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    Elegant Pie: Transform Your Favorite Pies into Works of Art
    Elegant Pie: Transform Your Favorite Pies into Works of Art
    Elegant Pie: Transform Your Favorite Pies into Works of Art
    Ebook337 pages1 hour

    Elegant Pie: Transform Your Favorite Pies into Works of Art

    By Karin Pfeiff-Boschek

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A designer who’s “turned pie crust decorating into an art form” shows how to embellish an ordinary crust—for a creation as beautiful as any cake (Martha Stewart).

    Everyone knows that serving a pie for dessert makes guests happy. And serving one with a beautifully designed crust that makes guests swoon is even better.

    Pies can be as stunningly attractive as the most decorative cakes with the use of some basic techniques and the appropriate care when working with pie dough. The recipes and techniques in this book give any home baker the tools to create breathtaking works of pie art. From preparation of the dough to the last moments of baking, all methods are clearly presented using step-by-step photographs. A flat surface, rolling pin, sharp knife, and cookie cutters of different sizes and shapes make embellishing an ordinary pie crust easy.

    The 25 designs in this book, arranged by three levels of difficulty, range from graphic art styles to seasonal-inspired florals—offering the first guide to creating these stunning works of edible art.

    “[A] gorgeous cookbook…As the book progresses, so do your skills.” —Taste of Home
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateOct 29, 2019
    ISBN9781524859350
    Elegant Pie: Transform Your Favorite Pies into Works of Art

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      Book preview

      Elegant Pie - Karin Pfeiff-Boschek

      To my loyal companions, Bruce and Andor

      Elegant Pie

      copyright © 2019 by Karin Pfeiff-Boschek. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.

      Andrews McMeel Publishing

      a division of Andrews McMeel Universal

      1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

      www.andrewsmcmeel.com

      ISBN: 978-1-5248-5935-0

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2019940628

      Editor: Jean Z. Lucas

      Art Director/Designer: Holly Swayne

      Production Editor: Elizabeth A. Garcia

      Production Manager: Carol Coe

      Digital Production: Kristen Minter

      Cover design: Holly Swayne

      Cover photography: Karin Pfeiff-Boschek

      ATTENTION: SCHOOLS AND BUSINESSES

      Andrews McMeel books are available at quantity discounts with bulk purchase for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail the Andrews McMeel Publishing Special Sales Department: [email protected].

      Contents

      Introduction

      Useful Tools and Equipment for Pie Making and Decoration

      Preparing and Working with Pâte Brisée Pie Dough

      Basic Tips for Decorating Pie Crusts

      Fillings

      Baking Techniques

      beginner projects

      intermediate projects

      advanced projects

      templates

      Resources

      Acknowledgments

      Metric Conversions and Equivalents

      Index

      Introduction

      Although I have been baking all kinds of pastries much of my life, it was just two years ago that I had the notion to add artistic decorations to my pies. Since pies are a favorite comfort food in many countries, they seemed well worth the effort to make more aesthetically pleasing. Having been active for twenty years in the field of textile design, I had plenty of ideas on how to embellish all kinds of creations, but pie dough offered a new and unexplored challenge. My first efforts received so much praise from friends and guests that I felt confident enough to upload a picture to my Instagram account. To my delight, that first picture received many more likes than any other picture on my account at that time, giving me the confidence to experiment further. Six months later, one of my pies on Instagram attracted the attention of Martha Stewart, who wrote that I had turned pie crust decorating into an art form, words of praise that cemented my conviction that artistic pie decoration was a worthwhile endeavor.

      Many of my textile creations were based on geometric patterns, and these provided inspiration for similar designs in my pie decoration. I began to gradually understand the characteristics and limitations inherent in working with pie dough, and my creations became more creative and complex. I was determined to avoid becoming entrenched in one style, so instead I experimented with many different colors; abstract geometric shapes; and familiar objects such as flowers, stars, leaves, and hearts. I found inspiration in many places, including nature, historical and traditional designs, and everyday objects. One crust was even inspired by a manhole cover I saw on the street in front of our home!

      It goes without saying that not all designs were completely successful, and I had my share of mishaps. I made one beautiful pie with many cutout flowers and other decorations and then decided the edge needed a special treatment, so I made a long braid and placed it around the edge of the pie, carefully applying egg wash to secure it in place. I then put it in the oven, and after about ten minutes, I looked to see the end of the braid beginning to slip off the pie. I opened the oven door only to watch the rest of the braid slither down onto the oven rack, leaving the edge of the pie unadorned. I quickly pulled the pie out of the oven and carefully embossed the edge with a fork, rescuing it and giving it a finished appearance. Just as with cooking in general, things are bound to go wrong when baking a pie, but with a bit of quick thinking and imagination, it is usually possible to save the day. Ironically, this first mishap repeated itself when I used a row of hearts around the edge of another pie. The hearts were too close to the edge, and as the pie began to bake, they all slipped off onto the oven rack. So now I don’t make the mistake of putting decorations too close to the edge of the pie anymore.

      One property of pie dough that requires some forethought is its tendency to shrink when baking. The most attractive unbaked pie can lose its beauty in the oven if care is not taken. Regardless of how good a pie looks before baking, it’s not finished until it comes out of the oven. No one would serve or eat an unbaked pie. Compensating for shrinkage requires planning; however, a certain degree of uncertainty still remains. Optimizing the dough by using as little water as possible will reduce the amount of shrinkage, but it’s not possible to eliminate this tendency altogether. The designs shown in this book have all been tested repeatedly and can serve as models for experimenting with your own patterns. If the techniques are followed, there shouldn’t be any problems with shrinkage, and the results will be almost certain.

      I’ve included twenty-five pies in this book based on the variety of methods used for their preparation. Making a few of these will provide practice and experience in freehand cutting, use of pie or cookie cutters, braiding, and other techniques.

      It is my sincere hope that you will find inspiration in the designs shown in this book and that you will have as much fun as I have turning pies into artistic creations. Making the pie beautiful does not detract from its delicious flavor and can only bring increased pleasure to your table or afternoon coffee hour. I wish you success and enjoyment in your efforts.

      Useful Tools and Equipment

      for Pie Making and Decoration

      The only tools and equipment that are absolutely necessary for pie decoration are the same that are necessary for making a simple pie, plus a refrigerator or freezer and a sharp knife. Your kitchen is probably already equipped with bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, and other basic equipment. The list of additional tools and accessories that may be useful for decoration techniques is nearly unlimited, but, to begin with, the following minimum list is quite adequate:

      Work area and surface

      Rolling pin

      Scalpel or craft knife

      Rolling cutter

      Cookie (dough) cutters (various shapes and sizes)

      Ruler

      Pastry brushes

      Pie pans

      Borderless pastry lifters or cake lifters

      Oven

      Refrigerator and freezer

      Pastry scraper

      Hot pads

      Cooling racks

      These basic tools and equipment are shown here and deserve some consideration:

      Work Area and Surface

      The cooler the kitchen, the better. A very warm kitchen will be an obstacle to working with pie dough, requiring that the dough be returned to the refrigerator very often during the shaping process. A heavy marble slab as a working surface will stay cooler longer as the kitchen warms up, but it will eventually warm up and then will take a longer time to cool back down. If possible, you might consider doing the decoration work in another, cooler room. As to the work surface itself, this is a matter of personal choice.

      I work on a hardwood countertop with almost a square yard of space. Some pie makers prefer marble or stone, and others work on a pastry cloth. These are all suitable for rolling out the dough, but when cutting with a sharp knife, you’ll want a surface that won’t suffer when pressing down on the knife. A cutting mat makes an ideal surface for cutting and layout work. A flat and smooth cutting board of wood or nylon also works well.

      Rolling Pin

      The type of material—wood, metal, plastic, or marble, with or without handles—is a matter of personal preference. I use a simple beech wood cylindrical pin about 2.5 inches (6 cm) in diameter and 12 inches (30 cm) long. If your work area is very warm, a metal or marble rolling pin that can be cooled in the refrigerator and retains the cold may be an advantage. For fine decorative ornaments that will be cut out by hand or with metal or plastic cutters, it is essential that the dough be rolled out smoothly, evenly, and thinly. For this, I use a rolling pin with rings on the ends that assure an even dough thickness (see image here). I usually roll out dough for this purpose to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Rings are available to fit various diameters of rolling pins, too. Alternatively, so-called pastry rulers of different thicknesses are available in plastic or wood. These can be used with a normal rolling pin and assure equal thickness throughout. Whatever rolling pin you use, make certain it is spotlessly clean and lightly floured before bringing it into contact with the dough.

      Scalpel or Craft Knife

      A very sharp paring knife can be used, especially if the blade is not too wide. The thinner and sharper the blade, the better, since a thin and sharp blade gives the most accurate and most smoothly cut edge. A better solution is a surgical scalpel or a craft knife with a replaceable blade. Since the tips of these blades are very thin, it’s

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