Northern Spies and a Potentially F-ed Up Crust: Part 1

Pie. Pie pie pie pie pie. Crust crust crust crust crust. Is piecrust an art form, or merely a test of one's chutzpah? People tend to shy away from crust-making; it is not for the faint of heart. I might go so far as to call myself a "baker," but not a "piemaker" (oh, hell, and I can't frost a cake worth a damn, either).

I've made my share of pies—usually apple—over the years, but I have yet to memorize a crust recipe or feel confident with one crust recipe over another. (I did, however, once engage in the anal-retentive rigamarole of preparing a piecrust the Rose Levy-Beranbaum way, and I must say, it was one of the tastiest crusts ever I baked—worth every nit-picky detail. One has to admire Rose... I do! And I adore her Christmas Cookie book.) Also, I've been making whole-wheat piecrusts the last several years, which are slightly more temperamental (less gluten, and all that).

What I have  learned is that it's better not to fear the piecrust (or the reaper, but that's another matter); go ahead and touch it and add too much water or too much fat or not enough flour: screw up and learn from it. A tentative approach to crust, I fear, will not pay off.

That being said, I absolutely abhor f-ing up piecrsuts, and I seem to do it with regularity. Take last night, for example...

This evening, I want to make a surprise apple pie for my father (but it won't be surprise in a hour or so, when I lug my pie accoutrement to my sister's, where he's staying, and start peeling apples), so last night, I prepared the crust. Although I usually don't think ahead and do this, it's good to prepare the pie dough in advance, so it has ample time to chill and rest. This is particularly the case with whole-grain flours.

I chose a whole-wheat crust recipe from the King Arthur Flour Whole-Grain Baking cookbook (oddly, I've had the book for a few years but hadn't tried this recipe yet). The whole book, and it's a good one, is based on the premise that there are many more grains out there than white all-purpose flour, and that using whole grains in recipes requires adjustments that go beyond simply substituting them for the white flour called for in a given recipe.

(the Northern Spy apple looks totally photoshopped in--but it isn't.)

[this concludes part the first. I need to get going on said pie!]