My Thanksgiving challenge: make your own pie crust

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November 19, 2009

Anonymous The Laurel Leader-Call Thu Nov 19, 2009, 10:18 AM CST

My Thanksgiving challenge: make your own pie crust

Next week, homes across Mississippi will fill with the familiar sights, sounds and aromas of Thanksgiving Dinner. There’ll be the glistening turkey, a pan or two of cornbread dressing, a cut glass dish filled with cranberry sauce, bowls of fruit salad and vegetables and a casserole or two.

I haven’t forgotten dessert; I’m just leading up to my challenge for those of you brave enough to embrace it. After a year and in some cases, a lifetime of eating pies made with thin, nondescript crust, I challenge you to make your own pie crust this Thanksgiving.

I won’t try to convince you of the superior taste over store bought. I won’t mention the admiration and applause you’ll receive from your family and friends. I will, however, tell you the satisfaction you’ll receive from mastering this surprisingly simple task will make 2009 one in which your guests will recall as, “The year we ate 100 percent, certifiable homemade pie.”

To the skeptics, remember pie crust is made from the simplest ingredients in the pantry – flour, salt and butter. Prissy Williams, who taught thousands of fledging pastry bakers at Everyday Gourmet in Jackson, started me on my path to pie crust making with this sensible advice. She added this simple statement that provided more courage than the Cowardly Lion possessed:

“If you mess up, ball it up, throw it out and start over.”

So, gather your ingredients and get started on a pie crust that’ll make Thanksgiving 2009, “the year of the pie!”

Prissy’s Pie Crust

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup cold water

2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve salt in water and refrigerate. Place butter and flour in a food processor. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cold water and pulse; don’t over process. Dump mixture onto plastic wrap. Gather opposite corners of wrap to center of dough, pressing to incorporate. Flatten into a disk and place in refrigerator one hour or longer.

Preheat oven to 375. Divide disk in half and return one back to refrigerator. Place pastry on lightly floured board. Sprinkle lightly with flour and roll out evenly, placing rolling pin in center of dough disk and rolling outward.

When dough is nearing desired thickness, place in pie pan. Trim and shape edges. Place in freezer for 10 minutes. When very chilled, place a piece of parchment paper on top of crust and fill with pie weights.

Bake in oven until lightly brown. Remove from oven and take paper out with weights. Return to oven and finish baking 3-5 minutes. Cool before filling. Makes enough crust for bottom and top of pie.

Kara Kimbrough writes a syndicated food column. Email her at kkprco@yahoo.com.

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