February 26th, 2010 11:41pm
sarah
I love pie. I love to make pie. I love to eat pie. I love pie crust. Sometimes I make pie crust even when I’m not going to make a pie, because pie crust with cinnamon and sugar is good. Does that sound weird?
I started making pies when I was young. Specifically, my parents gave me a book about pie-making when I was fourteen. Maybe I was making pies before that, but I’m not sure. Anyway, this pie book was awesome. I still have it in a box somewhere, and pretty much every page is marked with love (flour and/or butter). From it, I learned to make shortcrust pastry (regular American pie crust), pate sucree (a smoother, sweeter pastry), puff pastry (talk about a black hole of time), pastry with nuts in it, and even pies with no bottom crust. Oh, pies. My old friends.
From the book, I learned many things. I learned how to not touch the pie crust while you’re making it, how to treat it oh-so-gently, so that it would not be tough. I learned to chill it in a disc shape so that when you rolled it out it would not crack. I learned to roll it up on the rolling pin then unroll it into the pan. I learned to chill the dough for at least an hour before using it.
I learned all these things, but never really knew why they were important. So, over time, I’ve grown lazy about certain things. Like chilling the dough. Simply put, I don’t. Chill the dough, I mean. And the pie crust usually turns out fine. Except for one thing.
Lately, it shrinks as it cooks, which is a problem for pies with pre-baked crusts, like one of my favs, chocolate cream. I make a nice fluted edge and it shrinks and then it’s un-fluted. And finally, today, I decided I would google this problem. Turns out it’s related to the fact that I don’t chill the dough, and because to make up for the fact that I don’t chill the dough, I’d taken to adding one more tablespoon of water than is strictly necessary, to make it more pliable. Did you know that a tender, flaky, non-shrunk pie crust is dependent on the amount of gluten that forms? As long as you keep gluten from forming (by using very cold ingredients, adequately combining the fat and flour to prevent the flour from absorbing water, only using the barest amount of water, and chilling the dough before you roll it out), the pie crust stays tender, flaky, and the correct size.
Where have you been all my life, Science of Pie-Making?
“The thing is… a proper pie crust isn’t so much a recipe as it’s a spiritual quest for perfection in an imperfect world.”
February 16th, 2010 10:55am
sarah
Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light into the future so that we can take the next step… If you want to change a society, then you have to tell an alternative story.
~ Ivan Illich
January 30th, 2010 06:59pm
sarah
Our nephew giving his camera smile
January 30th, 2010 06:46pm
sarah
Twitter has kind of replaced blogging for me, at least for the past couple of months. It’s so easy to update Twitter every day or every other day, and then I feel like I’ve blogged, even though I haven’t. In an effort to remedy that, here is a real blog about a few things that I’ve been thinking/doing.
- The Wire – I’ve been watching this and I love it. Starting season 2 this week. It’s done by the same guy who did Homicide: Life on the Street (one of my favorite TV shows ever) and who wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (a book I’ve yet to read but will definitely read at some point).
- My bodhran – Practicing pretty much daily and really enjoying it. For Christmas, Ryan bought me a CD to practice with and my mom gave me an electronic metronome, both necessary things. I’m getting a bit better, and can play along to some songs, but basically I’m just having fun. It definitely helps me relieve stress.
- We went to see Avatar. I know I don’t need to link to any info, because I’m sure you’ve all seen it. Maybe you’ve even seen it twice! We want to to see it again, since we enjoyed the 3D effects so much.
- I went to Texas for my uncle’s funeral. It was good to be able to spend time with family. The sun was as I remembered it, huge and high in the sky, and the food was also as I remembered it: spicy!
January 23rd, 2010 02:07pm
ryan
After a quick check with my calendar, it seems that Sarah and I met each other for the first time 10 years ago on this very day. We were having lunch at Tom’s Barbecue (now out of business) to celebrate the birthday of a mutual friend. I can’t remember if it was intentional on my part, or if it just happened, but we ended up sitting across from each other at the long table of people, so having a conversation with Sarah was pretty convenient. When Sarah talks about that day, she always mentions how every time she looked at me, I was looking at her and had a huge smile on my face. Her memory is probably pretty accurate. I remember thinking something along the lines of “Wow, this girl is really cute”, and I recall the impression that the more Sarah told me about herself, the more I liked her. I can’t imagine what the past 10 years would have looked like if we hadn’t met that day, and I’m looking forward to knowing Sarah another 10 years.
