No pie for you!

[fitzw]

Occasionally, I bake.  My specialty (well, one of the few things that I actually bake) is lemon meringue pie from a scratch recipe.

Sometimes, the pie comes out very well.  Sometimes, not so well.  Usually, it’s acceptable, and usually, it tastes very good, which is why my mother often asks for one for holiday dinners.

Let me be clear, though: The problems that I have encountered with making these pies has never been with the meringue topping.  Even when the top­ping “sweats” a little, it still holds up well.  It even tastes good when I forget to add the vanilla extract (which happens a little more often than I’d like to admit).

The problems usually involve the filling or the crust (seldom both at the same time).

The filling sometimes doesn’t set up—I once had a pie slide right out of the shell when I took a corner a little fast on the way to the family farm…

I’ve had crusts swell up into little bal­loons during baking; I’ve had crusts swell up into big bal­loons.

Tonight, I couldn’t get that far.  No matter what I did, I could’t roll out the pie crust dough without it sticking to the roller, or the board, or my hand; it would stick to any­thing except itself.  So, no pie tonight.

I think I know how to correct the problem for next time, but I’ve used up too much time to do it tonight.

Comments

[alphasarah.livejournal.com]

There's a reason I don't do pies. I'm scared to death of crusts. My finicky baking is limited to sugar cookies, and I don't do those all that often (though I think TRex might just like decorating them this year, but I don't know if I'm up for cleaning colored sugar out of every nook and cranny of our hose...).