Thanksgiving minus 3: A morning of sipping coffee and listening to jazz while rolling out dough. Lots of dough.
All 19 of the single-crust pies that my beloved customers ordered for Thanksgiving–pumpkin, pecan, and sweet-potato bourbon–are now rolled out and in their pie tins. They will be par-baked and filled in phases, depending on their pickup times.
Next: the 11 two-crust apple pies. That’s 22 more dough disks to roll out… oh, and then there are the couple of extra non-Thanksgiving fruit pies that I need to prep or bake tonight for tomorrow. Thank goodness my awesome local jazz station has an inspiring Sunday lineup. 😉
Please send a hand-and-forearm masseuse.
Well, you’re ahead of me! I’ve got about 10 rolled out, and 52 more to go!
Par-baked??? Never tried that. Does it affect texture in the end? how far in advance can you do it? Fridge or freezer. I think I’m just trying to find excuses not to do my homework and just play in the kitchen.
Yes, in my experience, for pies like pumpkin, sweet potato and pecan, par-baking keeps the bottom crust from being doughy when the pie is done.
I’m enjoying following along with you, as I can relate albeit on a smaller scale – I bake primarily mini pies. Don’t you feel a sense of accomplishment seeing all of those crusts stacked in the freezer. I once told my teenage daughter that it felt like money in the bank and she gave me an odd look!
Hello, Sandy! Nice to meet another pie baker! Yes, I totally get that sense of satisfaction you’re talking about. But I’m not sure my scale is smaller than yours… You have to cut and shape far more pies than I do to feed the same number of people! I have been wanting to develop the mini-pie section of the business. Would love to know what size/type of pans you use; what have you found best for this kind of pie?
Hi! You are right – it is very time consuming shaping the petite crusts and dividing up the filling, adjusting the baking times etc. Yesterday, I made 3 full size pies for my cousin and they went together so much more quickly that I started questioning my devotion to mini pies! To answer your question, I use standard size muffin tins, and cut dough rounds about 5″.
Interesting! I definitely need to try that. I’ve seen muffin tins with shallower, wider cups that struck me as good possibilities for mini-pies, as well. Both sound like mouth-watering possibilities!