Originally Posted by
Iceblossom
What a wonderful problem!
Not ideal, but I have saved up berries by freezing them before turning them into jam. Also peaches going bad... cut 'em up, freeze up and deal with them when its cooler.
Mostly I make pies with blackberries, nothing special and my crusts aren't very good -- never really got the touch for pie crust.
I did make a pie and it was pretty good. Do you want some tips on making a good pie crust? I'm sure everyone on the QB will chime in. Here's mine:
Don't use all butter for your crust. It tastes great, but butter has animal proteins in it s/a casein, that will make the crust tough and heavy. Instead, opt for a vegetable shortening, s/a Crisco, or lard, if you can find it. You can still replace the shortening with a little butter for taste, but not too much.
When mixing the flour with the shortening, don't use a food processor. Instead, use 2 criss-crossing knives, or your fingers to break down the shortening. Don't over do it, you still want some small chunks of shortening in the flour. That's what helps to create the flakes.
Be careful how much ice water you put into the dough. Put it in one tablespoon at a time and toss lightly after each spoonful. If the recipe calls for 7 tablespoons, start with 5 and see if the dough will hold together when you give it a squeeze, then add more as needed.
Handle the dough as little as possible. Wrap it up in plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least an hour in the fridge before you roll it out. I like to roll mine out on parchment paper dusted with a small bit of flour. Again, keep a light touch and work the dough as little as possible.
Your dough won't look like the ones on those food shows. They make theirs very wet because it's TV and they don't want their dough falling apart on air. Yours should look a little messy, maybe a just a bit dry and will probably have to be patched around the edges. It should not be too thin and you should see some flecks of shortening in the dough as you roll it out. Remember, the less you handle it, the better.
Using parchment paper makes it easy to flip the dough into the pan. Those TV shots where they drape the dough over a rolling pin are totally unrealistic. If it looks like rolled out Playdough, then it's too wet, and/or overworked.
It's nice to add an egg wash on the dough after the pie is put together. I mix 1 egg with about a tablespoon of milk, or water, brush it lightly on the top, then sprinkle some regular, granulated sugar. This adds a bit of crispness to the crust when done.
Bake it in a fairly hot oven. It can help to put some folded tin foil over the crimped edges of the dough the last 15, or 20 minutes of baking to prevent burning. Just don't burn yourself like I always do.
OK...that's all I can think of at the moment. Climbing down off of my soapbox.