PIE BAKING TIPS FROM THE HOOSIER MAMA PIE COMPANY

I was surfing around the web and found a new artisan bakery In Chicago where my oldest Son lives.  It is called The Hoosier Mama Pie Company and is definitely a place Tom and I will want to check out.  The bakery looks like a fun place.  They make 10 different pies every day.  We love pie.  Their web site is fun to look at and on it they had baking tips for pie. I liked the tips so much that I am sharing them with you.


For blind baking, I have always used a fork to pierce the whole crust before baking.  However, I liked the idea of putting beans in a coffee filter.  I have never used the bean idea as I didn't want to deal with the beans, but the coffee filter would make that easy.


I really like the idea of "crust dust" and I will certainly try that trick the next time I make a fruit pie.


Baking Tips from the Hoosier Mama Pie Company.


Best tool for coring pears? Well, we used to use melon ballers which worked 'just okay' and had a tendency to break. One night after our last melon baller broke at the beginning of processing a box of pears, we rummaged through our tool boxes and found a tomato corer (which looks like a toothy melon baller) and found it to be the perfect tool for the job. Just slice the pears in half and scoop out the seeds & core with ease.






Blind Baking Pie Shells - "Blind baking" is the term for prebaking a pie shell prior to adding the filling. The trick is to weigh down the crust to avoid air bubbles from forming. Nothing works better for blind baking a pie shell than a large coffee filter (basket style) filled with dried beans. The filter fits perfectly into a 9" pie shell and the beans can be re-used many times.






Avoiding soggy bottom fruit pies - Along with starting out with a good hot oven to set the crust we dust the bottom of the crust with a 50/50 mixture of flour & sugar. Around the pie kitchen it is referred to as "crust dust" and is always included in any fresh fruit pies.