 Throughout
my life, I could never make pie crusts successfully and consistently
and was very frustrated with it and made cakes instead.
One day,
after about 50 years of
baking cakes, I realized the main reason I had a problem with pie
crusts was because whenever I went looking for instructions on crust
making, I always ended up reading text on how to make perfect pie
crust, or flaky pie crust, or "the perfect, flaky pie crust". I decided
to stop trying to reach this "perfect" bar that I was unable to reach
and just settle for "good enough".
 Now, when I make pie
crust, I just
mix the flour (heritage grain such as emmer, einkorn or kamut). and fat
(butter and lard) in
a ratio of approximately 2 parts flour to 1 part fat, but I
measure by eye and it's influenced by
what I have on hand. I smush the fat into the flour by hand or fork. I
don't care what temperature my hands are (I like them warm). I add
enough cold water (straight from the tap -- not ice water) so it will
stick together. However much water it takes to easily make it into a
ball. Yes, it turns sticky and pasty but I don't care coz I just add
enough more flour to roll it out when it's time to roll it. Sometimes I
store it in the fridge, sometimes I don't.
I have found that I can get a
pie
crust that is 90% of perfect with 10% of the effort. Now, besides
dessert pies, I also make meat pies for supper and jam tarts for tea.
Pies, pies, pies. My family loves them. What they lack in not being
perfect and flaky they make up for in being the pies that are set in
front of them to eat and enjoy.
So, while this may be
heresy to Women
Who Make Perfect Pies, I have found that "good-enough" pie crust that I
can make is better than perfect pie crust that I can't.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 cup fat made up of butter, lard, tallow or virgin coconut oil but NOT
vegetable shortening that is solid at room temperature and, of course,
NOT liquid vegetable oil
pinch of salt
spoonful of sugar
teeny-tiny micro-pinch of cinnamon, not enough to you can taste it,
this is a "secret ingredient"
water
Directions:
Smush the fat, flour, salt, sugar and cinnamon together with a fork
until they are as blended as they're going to be.
Add cold water and mix with a fork. Start with a small amount of water
and then add more water until all the flour holds together in a ball.
Flour a flat surface and put the dough ball on it.
Put more flour on top of the dough and on a rolling pin.
Roll the dough into 1/8-1/4 inch thickness depending on what type of
pastry you want. Add more flour if necessary to keep rolling smoothly.
Put the pastry into a pie plate and cut off the edges, or cut the dough
into the shape you want and put it into the bowl or container you are
going to use to bake it.
Use any of the cut off pieces to patch up any holes or tears in the
rolled dough. You can use a little water to paste the pieces together
if they need it.
Notes
Take
extra full-array mixed minerals from a
natural source (such as edible clay) to compensate for the lack of
minerals in grains and also eat some food with live
pro-biotics such as un-pasteurized yogurt or kefir to aid in digestion.
Rodale's
Basic Natural Foods Cookbook
The
Great Cholesterol Con
by Anthony Colpo
Cook's
Illustrated Make-Ahead Cookbook Uses real
ingredients and has lots
of
side dishes that can be made ahead of time. Where a particular
ingredient isn't
the most nutrient-dense food available, it
can be easily substituted.
Cooking
with Coconut Flour by Bruce
Fife For those who believe they
are allergic to gluten, or who want to avoid grains
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