does anything say “Farm” like pie?

by jackie | Sep 29, 2024 | Care of the Soul, Dessert, DIY, Eating Local, Food, Foraging, Gratitude, Lard, Local Farmers, Pie, Uncategorized

Hand pie, fry pie, stack pie, fruit pie, cream pie, depression pie…. is there anything more humble yet sublime than homemade pie?

There is nothing that better represents how, with a little ingenuity and elbow grease, pleasure and love can come from the kitchen even when times are tough. Today, as we near October, Pennsylvania is thick into apple season, and my wild trees have been giving up their fruit. This year was a particularly good one for all the fruits here, for which we are all grateful.

I used to get all cheffy and elaborate when making pies and preserves, but now that I have come to savor the difference between supermarket produce and the things I seek out from local farms and forests, I want to keep the focus on the particulars of the fruit, and keep the seasonings simple.

My wild apples are unlike those from the orchard, being a little different in texture and very intense in flavor. They are also as wild as can be, so have odd skin color and blemishes, which do not bother me at all. For baking, I like a mix of varieties – which always makes a pie more interesting. I like a crisp and tart variety mixed with a good Golden delicious or two.  Delicious apples have gotten a bad rap after years of being the apple favorite of elementary schools, hospitals, and convenience stores, which is entirely unfair. A good Delicious apple has a juicy-sweet spiciness, and a texture that bakes up soft and tender. I was pretty delighted to discover a wild tree that has knobby, small, very seedy fruit with a Golden Delicious flavor, though they are kind of a pain to peel and woud take a ton to make a full pie.

I do pack my pie with lots of fruit and little else, and stick to crusts made from fats like butter, lard, or a combo. This is a very basic recipe, adapted from my Mom’s McCall’s Cook Book, in which I have discovered a surprising number of new-old ideas. It can be easily adapted to pretty much any fruit, adapting a little for straining the excess liquid when using juicier fruits – I find 1/2 cup of liquid is the perfect amount to form a softly gelled, not runny fruit filling.

Bonus: If you strain off excess fruit liquid, remember to make some fruit shrub using your remaining vinegar water from the pie crust.

So, here’s your next weekend plan – Hit your farmer’s market for apples & snacks, go home & bake yourself a pie, go for a tramp in the woods, come home, enjoy pie. Best of all, Sunday morning pie for breakfast is the best… 

Old Fashioned Apple Pie

Simple yet sublime, this is the way to go when the fruit is at peak perfection. Try to get a mix of apples, crisp and tart, but a few good orchard Golden Delicious add a sweet spicy, juiciness that really makes it. This is a basic recipe for fruit pie in general, subbing one fruit for any other, straining if necessary the filling so that you have no more than 1/2 cup of liquid.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 recipe Pastry for 2-crust pie I've included my recipe in this post, but If making dough keeps you from this simple pleasure, use store bought pre-rolled crust
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
• 8 cups peeled and thinly sliced apples 10 - 12 medium apples
• 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
• dash kosher salt
• 2 Tablespoons Butter

Equipment

• 1 9-10 inch pie plate I prefer glass pie plates, but cast iron and metal work well also, but may cook faster so take care to watch the crust
• 1 Rolling pin

Method

 

1. In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, clove, flour, and salt, mixing well.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F, arrange rack in the center of oven.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll one of your pastry disks into an 11-inch circle. Line your pie pan and set aside.
4. Add your sugar mixture to your sliced apples in a large bowl, tossing lightly to combine well
5. Turn the apples and spice into the prepared pie crust, mounding highest in center. with a knife, cut small chunks of butter and dot evenly atop the apples
6. Roll out the remaining pastry disk into an 11-inch circle. Gently place on top of pie, trimming excess using a sharp knife so the top crust is very slightly larger than the ecge.
7. Gently roll top crust under the bottom crust, sealing the filling inside, and pressing gently with your fingertips. Crimp the edge to give a finished edge, either with your fingers or a fork. Gently slice slits in your top crust to allow steam to escape
8. Place the pie pan on a baking sheet to catch any leaking juices, and slide into preheated oven. Bake 45 - 50 minutes, until crust is golden but not too brown.
9. Remove to wire rack and allow to cool fully before cutting. Warm pie is delicious, but the juices will not have set and your pie will not slice well. Still good!

Notes

Serve with a thin slice of cheddar cheese, custard stirring cream, or ice cream.

Bard Crust

Combo of lard & butter. I make this only with lard rendered from pork I know - the tubs of hydroginated lard available at the supermarket have been altered for shelf stability, and are not as healthful or tasty. Home rendered lard is subject to variations of season and diet of the animal. This does add an additional challenge to dough texture, as it will vary in firmness and water content, but it also adds a level of flavor that can't be otherwise replicated.

If that sounds like more than you are willing to take on, Just use two sticks of butter and follow the same steps for an all butter crust.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Servings: 1 Double crust 9-10-inch pie

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 2-1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 TBS granulated sugar
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter (salted is fine too) cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 stick equals 1/4 pound)
• 1/2 cup rendered leaf lard, very cold/frozen cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup very cold water
• 2 TBS cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup ice

Method

 

1. Stir the flour, salt, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the butter and lard piecesand coat with the four mixture. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture, working quickly until mostly pea-sized pieces of butter/lard remain. Be careful to not overland.
2. Combine the water, cider vinegar, and ice in a measuring cup. Sprinkle 2 TBS of the ice water misture over the flour mixture, then mix and cut it in with a bench scraper (or your hands). Add as needed additional water - this understanding is something you will gain with practice. Go slowly, sprinkling 1/4 - 1/2 tsp at a time, undil the ball of dough has enough moisture to come together into a ball, with some dry bits remaining.
3. Squeeze and pinch with your fingertips to bring all the dough together, adding small drops of the water mixture if necessary.
4. Cut the ball in half, shape into two flat disks, wrapping separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, preferably overnight, to give the gluten strands in the flour time to relax, and make the crust roll out more easily.
5. Wrapped well, your dough can be refrigerated for 3 days, or frozen for 1 month.

Notes

If you need some guidance about rolling your dough, this is a very comprehensive video and photo series. Pie is a skill, but it is not rocket science and I have every confidence with a little persistence, pie will become a valuable tool in your weekly menu rotation for pies both celebratory and everyday, sweet and savory. 

I make crust as one of my regular morning cooking projects, tucking crust into the freezer for a future day. Making pie is no big deal at all when you break down into two sessions the making of the crust and the making of the pie. 

The fat quantities remaing the same for an all butter crust pie - simply use two sticks of butter in place of the butter & lard. 

My wild, organic-as-can-be apples, ready for pie