**Pie Basics**
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List of Ingredients
INFORMATION
1 EQUIPMENT You can bake tender flaky pies with very little equipment--two knives to cut shortening into the flour, a rolling pin, and a pieplate - but a few extra items can simplify the process. A pastry blender will cut shortening into the flour easier than knives, and a pastry wheel will speed up cutting pastry strips. Pastry wheels come with either a plain edge, a fluted edge, or both.
2 If you have trouble with pastry sticking to your rolling pin or work surface, a stockinette cover for your rolling pin and a pastry cloth for your work surface may help. You'll also appreciate a wire rack on which to cool your pies; it will help keep crusts from becoming soggy.
3 Non-shiny pieplates or piepans, such as those of ovenproof glass or dull metal, work best. Shiny metal pans reflect heat and keep the pastry from browning properly. Always use the size pieplate or piepan specified in the recipe. Standard sizes are 8, 9, and 10 inches in diameter, and measure 1 1/4 inches deep.
4 COMMERCIAL CRUSTS You'll find a wide variety of convenience pastries on the market to help you bake pies and pastries in a hurry. Packaged dry piecrust mix and rolled flat rounds of pastry are two types that allow you to use your own pieplate and flute the crust yourself to give your pie a "homemade" look.
5 Frozen pastry shells and crumb crusts already in the pan offer good quality but hold less filling than most homemade pastries with which our pies were tested. Even though their packages may state they are 9-inch pastries, most are not an equivalent substitute. You can purchase individual tart size pastries in which to bake the extra filling, if desired. Piecrusts frozen in the pan labeled "deep dish" are closer to homemade size than the regular frozen crusts.
6 FREEZING PIES AND PASTRIES You can freeze balls of uncooked pastry up to two months if they are wrapped properly. The balls of pastry can be thawed overnight in the refrigerator.
7 Or, if you prefer to go ahead and roll the pastry, roll it into circles about three inches larger all around than your pieplates, stack the pastry circles on a baking sheet with two sheets of plastic wrap between each, and freeze. After an initial freezing, the stack of frozen pastry circles should be wrapped, labeled and refrozen. Thaw the frozen circles at room temperature about 10 minutes before using.
8 You can also freeze baked or unbaked pastry directly in a pieplate. Unbaked frozen pastry can be baked in its frozen state; bake frozen pastry as the recipe directs, and then add two or three additional minutes of baking time. When thawed, pastry will be slightly more fragile than if it had not been frozen.
9 Some baked pies freeze well, especially fruit pies. However, the texture of the pastry may lose some crispness in the freezing and defrosting process and the texture of the fruit will soften slightly, too.
10 To freeze baked pies, freeze them unwrapped first, then wrap them securely, label, and return them to the freezer. Use frozen pies within two months. Thaw baked pies at room temperature 30 minutes, then bake at 350°F until warm, if reheating is desired.
11 Do not freeze cream, custard, chiffon, or pies that contain a meringue crust or topping.
12 MICROWAVING PIES AND PASTRIES You can bake pastry and pies in the microwave oven, but the end results are not the same as when baked conventionally. The pastry will not brown, and pastry and fillings have to be cooked separately. Adjustments in the amounts of liquid sometimes need to be made, also. If you want to bake pies in your microwave oven, the cookbook distributed with your microwave oven is the best guide.
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