Technique
How it is made.
The methods behind the pie, from cutting fat into flour to the wobble of a set custard. Where the authorities disagree, each is given. For the terms, see the glossary.
Glossary →The rules →Recipes →
- 1Making the doughPie dough is flour, fat, salt and water. The authorities agree that the handling of the fat decides the crust, and disagree on nearly everything else.
- 2Blind bakingBaking an empty shell before it is filled protects the crust under fillings that cook briefly or not at all. Methods differ on weights, docking and when a shell is worth prebaking.
- 3The latticeA lattice top is cut from cold dough in strips and either woven or laid across the filling. The two methods divide home and professional practice.
- 4Crimping and flutingThe edge seals a double-crust pie, holds back a liquid filling and is the first thing a judge sees. Professionals disagree about whether a decorative edge is worth its dough.
- 5Preventing a soggy bottomA wet filling soaks into raw dough before the dough can set. The remedies are a faster-setting crust, a barrier between crust and filling, or both, and the choice of pan is disputed.
- 6Thickening fruit fillingsFruit releases juice as it bakes, and a starch is added to set it. Each starch sets differently, and the authorities rank them differently.
- 7MeringueA pie meringue is a foam of egg whites and sugar baked on a filling. It can weep from below, bead on top, or shrink, and the sources disagree about why.
- 8Custard piesA custard pie sets when its eggs coagulate. The baker must stop the filling short of curdling, finish the crust beneath it, and then keep the pie cold.