Baking isn’t supposed to make you cry, but it happens to the best of us.
Let's say you find an amazingrecipe. You goto the store to buythehighest quality ingredients:organic,cage-free, all natural, etc. You even getthe2lb. bag of pecans,and we all knowhow expensive those are. After carefully prepping your creation; you put yourdessertin the oven with only a hope and a prayer.
The timer goes off andyoutentativelyuse theovenlight to peak at your glorious creation. And the sight is... well, devastating. (Cue the tears if you burned those pecans after the grocery stores have already closed).From soggy crusts topoor volume and uneven shapes, anything can and will go wrongat some pointwhen baking. Andwith the luckwe've beenhavingin 2020, we don’t need totake any chances.
Inthisthree-partseries, we will examine somecommon baking mistakes and the solutions on how best to remedy them. First up,pie mistakes and solutions.
1. The bottom crustis soggy or raw.
The pie was not baked long enough. Bake that pie for the correct time folks!
Oven temperature is too low. Make sure the oven temperature is hot enough and that there is enough bottom heat. Place the pie in the lower half of the oven if necessary.
A hot filling was added to an unbaked crust. Allow fillings to cool to room temperature before filling unbaked pie crusts.
The wrong type of pie dough was used. Use a mealy piedough when making fruit or custard piesbecauseit resists sogginess. The baked doughwillabsorb less excess moisture from filling. To make a mealy pie dough, blend the fatmore thoroughly into the flour until it resembles coarse cornmeal before adding any liquid. The shortening makes the crustvery tender because less gluten develops.
2. Mypie crust is tough.
There was too much overmixing. Overmixing develops the gluten, the proteins presentin wheat,and that is notwhat we want for pies. Pie crustsshouldalways be tender.
Too much water was added.Liquid is required, but just enough to keep thedough together. Too much liquid develops too much gluten.
The dough was handled too much.When handling the dough, make sure the dough stays cold. If you notice the dough is warming up and the butter is melting, put it back in the fridge for 15 minutes. Also make sure not to rework the trimmings and scrapsback into the dough. Too much rolling and reworking will make the dough tough.
3. My pie crust shrunk in the pan.
The dough was overworked.In addition to making the crust tough, overworking the doughcan cause shrinkage. When making pie or pastry dough, only mix the ingredients enough until it barely comes together.
The dough was stretched when placedin the pan. Allow the dough to fall into the pan instead of pulling and stretching.
Thedoughwasn’t allowed to rest.After putting the dough in the pan, chill dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking.
Not enough shortening and too much water was added to the dough. This allows too much gluten to develop and causes your pie crust to shrink. Use a blend of butter andhydrogenated shortening. You can use all butter, but it tends to be a bit more expensive and since butter melts so easily it makes the dough harder to work with.
In the next part of this series, we will tackle some cookie mistakes and solutions. Stay tuned!
References
-Friberg, B. (2002).The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, 4th Edition. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
-Gisslen, W. (2005).Professional Baking. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
-Labensky, S. R. (2005).On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall.
In the meantime, here are some fantastic resources for stress-free holiday baking.
The Baking Bible
More Than 150 Recipes for Irresistible Baked Goods.
Published in 2005
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The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs.
Published in 2019
A guide to baking for kids includes over one hundred recipes, including such offerings as berry scones, fluffy dinner rolls, jam thumbprint cookies, and chocolate cupcakes with nutella frosting.
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Book
Pies and Tarts with Heart
Expert Pie-building Techniques for 60+ Sweet and Savory Vegan Pies
Balcavage, Dynise.
Published in 2013
Sweet and Savory Vegan Pies. Take your plant-based pies to another level. In Pies and Tarts with Heart, popular blogger Dynise Balcavage shares her straight-forward wisdom about kitchen fundamentals and the most effective pie-making techniques. From Apple Pie to S'more Pie-and everything in between-these 60+ recipes will make you shine in your pastry pursuits, whether you are a beginner or a veteran pie maker.
Ebook
How to Bake Everything
Simple Recipes for the Best Baking
Bittman, Mark, author.
Published in 2016
In the most comprehensive book of its kind, Mark Bittman offers the ultimate baker's resource. Finally, here is the simplest way to bake everything, from American favorites (Crunchy Toffee Cookies, Baked Alaska) to of-the-moment updates (Gingerbread Whoopie Pies). It explores global baking, too: Nordic ruis, New Orleans beignets, Afghan snowshoe naan. The recipes satisfy every flavor craving thanks to more than 2,000 recipes and variations: a pound cake can incorporate polenta, yogurt, ricotta, citrus, hazelnuts, ginger, and more. New bakers will appreciate Bittman's opinionated advice on essential equipment and ingredient substitutions, plus extensive technique illustrations. The pros will find their creativity unleashed with guidance on how to adapt recipes to become vegan, incorporate new grains, improvise tarts, or create customized icebox cakes using a mix-and-match chart. Demystified, deconstructed, and debunked --baking is simpler and more flexible than you ever imagined.
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Book
Pie It Forward
Pies, Tarts, Tortes, Galettes & Other Pastries Reinvented
Bullock-Prado, Gesine.
Published in 2012
Pie has always been a popular cookbook topic, yet in Pie It Forward, baker, confectioner, and pastry master Gesine Bullock-Prado unveils an entirely new frontier of pies, redefining what can be done with a piecrust and pastry shell. Expect lattice and cutouts with an entirely modern twist. Homemade puff pastry made easy. Individual pie pops to replace tired cupcakes. Surprising and wildly successful explorations with beer (Chocolate Stout Pudding Pie), exotic fruits (Yuzu-Ginger Rice Pudding Meringue Pie), and candy-making (Earl Grey Truffle Tart). And there are the classics too-riffing on her German roots, her Hollywood background, and life on her Vermont farm-a Blueberry Brown Butter Tart, an Italian Plum Tart with a yeasted-dough crust, a tiramisu-inspired Espresso Tart, a Vermont Pizza Pie, and more. Including sweet, savory, layered, and miniature pies and tarts, Bullock-Prado presents these recipes with a voice that removes the intimidation factor and inspires readers to break out of the double-crust straitjacket and try her signature creations-and to laugh out loud along the way. For additional information, technique demonstrations, and more, please visit www.pieitforwardcookbook.com.
Ebook
Happiness is Baking
Cakes, Pies, Tarts, Muffins, Brownies, Cookies
Heatter, Maida, author.
Published in 2019
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Book
Everyday Keto Baking
Healthy Low-carb Recipes for Every Occasion
Kerwien, Erica, 1962- author.
Published in 2019
Have your cake-and stay keto too! With Everyday Keto Baking, there's no need to deprive yourself of the breads, muffins, and other treats you love. Instead, learn to make keto-friendly (low-carb, high-fat) versions of your favorite baked goods using real-food ingredients. This is the only keto baking book you'll ever need. Inside you'll find more than 80 recipes specifically geared to the keto diet. Most recipes rely on coconut flour and almond flour, two of the most popular alternative flours on the market. Coconut flour is an all-natural flour made only from coconut; contains no gluten and no grain; and is low in digestible carbs and high in fiber, making it a favorite among keto, gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, and low-glycemic lifestyles. Its pure, slightly sweet taste is subtle enough that even coconut haters won't be able to detect it, and it lends itself perfectly to baked goods, creating results far superior to many other "healthy" treats. Alongside other healthy ingredients like eggs and low-carb sweeteners, the recipes in this book have been carefully created to not only taste delicious, but also help you meet your macros (your target ratio of protein, fat, and carbs on keto). Enjoy all the special treats you once thought were off-limits, such as: Fluffy Pancakes Cheesy Bagels Garlic Cauliflower Breadsticks Chocolate Zucchini Bread Cinnamon Streusel Cake Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Chocolate Chip Cookies Red Velvet Cupcakes Cheesecake Brownies Spinach Feta Quiche Everyday Keto Baking gives you limitless options for enjoying baked goods without guilt. The only thing you need to worry about now is keeping them away from everyone else!
Ebook
100 Cookies
The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars, and More
Kieffer, Sarah.
Published in 2020
From celebrated blogger Sarah Kieffer of The Vanilla Bean Baking Blog! 100 Cookies is a go-to baking resource featuring 100 recipes for cookies and bars, organized into seven chapters. Chocolatey, fruity, crispy, chewy, classic, inventive-there's a foolproof recipe for the perfect treat for everyone in this book. - Introduces innovative baking techniques - Includes an entire chapter dedicated to Kieffer's "pan banging" technique that ensures crisp edges and soft centers for the most delicious cookies - Nearly every recipe is accompanied by a photograph. Recipes range from the Classic Chocolate Chip made three different ways, to bars, brownies, and blondies that reflect a wide range of flavors and global inspiration. This is the comprehensive-yet-charming cookbook every cookie lover (or those who love to bake cookies) needs. - Recipes include Marshmallow Peanut Butter Brownies, Olive Oil Sugar Cookies with Blood Orange Glaze, Red Wine Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Bars, and Pan-Banging Ginger Molasses, S'mores Cookies, Snickerdoodles, and more - A great pick for the home baker who loves cookies, as well as fans of Sarah Kieffer's blog and Instagram - You'll love this book if you love cookbooks like Sally's Cookie Addiction by Sally McKenney; Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan; and The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies & Bars by America's Test Kitchen.
Ebook
Sister Pie
The Recipes & Stories of a Big-hearted Bakery in Detroit
Ludwinski, Lisa, author.
Published in 2018
A collection of favorite recipes for sweet and savory pies from the owner of Detroit's Sister Pie bakery features such options as ginger peach biscuit, toasted marshmallow butterscotch, and sour cherry bourbon pie.
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Art of the Pie
A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life
McDermott, Kate, 1953- author.
Published in 2016
"Pie-making should be simple and fun. Kate McDermott has taught this and made pies with thousands of people across the country at her Pie Camps. Her confidence comes through in every recipe, and will inspire readers to don an apron, grab a rolling pin, and get cooking. (The stunning photographs in this book won&#x;t hurt either.) Over the years, McDermott developed more than a dozen crusts, half of which are gluten-free, and in this book she gives detailed instructions for making, rolling, and baking crusts. A pie needs filling, too, and she does not neglect a single detail when describing her ingredients, methods, and tricks for making the filling and finishing off the pie. Art of the Pie is more than a cookbook. Kate&#x;s rules extend well beyond pie baking: keep everything chilled, respect the boundaries, and remember to vent. This is a book to keep close at hand,"--Amazon.com.
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