The Next Veruca Salt

Ever since I wrote my last post, I've been obsessing about pie.  I've been trawling the internet for tips, and contemplating the few comments I've received after my call for help.  What I've found is that, basically there are as many "tried-and-true," "fail-safe" pie tips and methods as there are pie bakers out there.  

Some interesting ones:

-- Put a piece of aluminum foil or a cookie sheet directly under the pie or on the rack below so juice doesn't spill over into the bottom of the oven. 

--Mix a tablespoon or three of quick-cooking tapioca to thicken your pie juices and avoid pie soup.

--Saute hard peaches in a little water, maybe some sugar and lemon juice, before putting them in the pie.

-- Bake the pie on top of a pizza stone, or directly on the bottom of the oven for the first twenty minutes to ensure browning of the bottom crust.

--Roll out your crust between wax paper.

--Use half shortening, half butter (shortening for flakiness, butter for flavor).

--Decide what kind of pie you're going to make based on sales at the market.  In other words, don't get your heart set on blueberry pie, if it's going to cost you $16 for a pie's worth of blueberries.

Well, as I embark on my pie making adventure, I'll employ these tips and more, just to see if they are as imperative as some say they are.  I've got Pie #1 cooling on the stove right now-- a sixteen-dollar blueberry pie, if you want to know the truth-- and it looks gorgeous!  I'll get a photo up when Adam comes home with the camera. 

And I can verify one tip already: put foil or a pan underneath the pie while it bakes!!  I forgot that step and now I have blueberry tar on the bottom of my oven.  Great.