Pie before Class

I started class today, and to celebrate (dash put off the thought over the weekend), I made some peach pie on Saturday! I have always had issues which pastry, and have had some major pie disasters over the years, so prior to starting I called my mom and got a few extra tips on her recipe that I've been trying to use. I think my chief improvement was to put the dough in the fridge while I was working on the fruit since my kitchen is hot and humid at the best of times. Also, much to most people's taking issue with, I use real lard, not Crisco. Hate the stuff, real lard is the only way to go.

Fruit Pies

Pastry

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt

-Combine all these dry ingredients in large bowl and mix well.
-Add 1/2 pound of lard (half of the box), and cut it in with two butter knives. Flake with hands until crumbly.
-Mix 1 egg with 1/2 cup of cold water, and dribble small portions onto dough until it starts to stick and can be formed into a ball.
-Place dough unto saran wrap, cover and place in fridge for the meantime.


Filling

4 cups of fresh fruit, sliced/cut
1/4 flour (less)
1/2 - 3/4 cup of sugar

Combine the above ingredients in another bowl and toss to combine.

Some assembly required

-Remove dough from fridge and divide in half.
-On floured surface with floured rolling pin, flatten and roll dough to an even, less than 1/2 a cm thick area big enough to cover the pie plate (I use a wonderful pyrex pie, casserole dish, screw aluminum). I've been able to take a floured butter knife and slide it under part of the dough to loosen it from the counter, at which point I can stick it to the rolling pin a bit and roll it around the rolling pin. It sometimes makes it easier to transport the dough to the pie plate 4 inches away. For the first time ever I was able to get both the bottom and top pieces of the pie unto the damned plate in one piece.
-Once the bottom layer of the dough is in the plate, add the fruit filling, spreading to create an even layer.
-Add top layer of dough. Pinch the edge to seal. Cut vent holes throughout the top layer in a desired design. In my case, a squirrel. I happened to have a squirrel cooking cutter lying around in my kitchen drawers, and figured it would help bring in the fall.

-Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. At the 10-15 minute mark, turn the pie around and reduce temperature to 375, cook for another 20-35 minutes.
*Pies can bubble over and leave filling all over the oven that burns and smells awful. To avoid this, have a pizza pan or cookie try in the oven while the oven is preheating, and place the pie plate on this. The preheat will allow the heat to distribute evenly and protect your oven's floor from burning peaches.
-Keep half an eye on it has it bakes; it will be done as the upper crust turns a light shade of brown around the edges and the exposed filling in the vent holes bubbles.
-Remove from oven, allow to cool for at least 15 minutes prior to cutting and eating. The first few pieces will disintegrate entirely when being removed from the pie plate, but that's just a sign of a pie well done. When fully cooled, slices come out in one piece, ish.