Summer fruits baked in a pie
I haven't bought into the notion that pies have replaced cupcakes as the hot dessert trend (I've yet to see a pie truck doing business in a strip mall parking lot), but I will grant you that pies are popular.
And nowhere was that more apparent than at the National Pie Championships held in April in Orlando, where participation was way up.
Pies and summer fruits go hand in hand, a flaky crust providing a mellow platform on which fresh berries and tree-ripened fruits can shine. Unlike a cake, no goopy sweet frosting competes for our taste buds' attention.
As you browse your produce section, farm stand and backyard for the season's ripest fruit, consider the following advice from winners of the National Pie Championship.
Go ask Grandma: Browse the recipe boxes of your mother, grandmother and other family bakers that have been baking pies long before you, says award-winning baker Linda McComb Hundt of Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe in DeWitt, Mich. Grandma knew what she was doing when she placed her fruit pies in the windowsill to cool; slicing a fruit pie before the ingredients have settled results in a liquid-filled pie.
Chill out: Always work with well-chilled shortening or butter. The pros suggest dipping your hands in ice water before working with dough and even keeping the kitchen extra chilly to ensure a perfectly rolled crust. If you won't be filling the crust right away, put the pie plate and crust in the refrigerator.
Think outside the pan: Choices extend beyond 8- and 9-inch tins. Consider baking pies in a square dish or in individually sized ramekins. Heck, forget the pan all together and at your next party offer three or more flavors of pie filling along with pie crust chips — broken pieces of baked pie crust.
Sweet and savory: The sweet pies you used to know and love are taking on a whole new attitude thanks to a growing trend of adding savory ingredients. The baker in the amateur division of the Crisco Innovation Awards won with My Big Fat Strawberry Basil Italian Wedding Pie. Other entries paired sea salt with caramel; chocolate and potato chips; green tomatoes and Granny Smith apples; and even bacon, lettuce and tomato as a topping for a strawberry pie.
Get back to basics: Creativity is important, but don't neglect the pie-making basics. Preheating the oven may sound like common sense, but many rushed bakers skip this step or put the pie in too soon, resulting in a soggy crust. Great pies also require precise measurements and quality ingredients, cautions Hundt.