A few weeks ago, I picked up Bubby's Homemade Pies at Ollies for only $9.99! This book has been on my Amazon wishlist for quite sometime, so I was super excited! If you live in near Tribeca or Brooklyn in NY, you probably know all about
Bubby's Pie Company. I live in VA, so the closest I'll ever get to one of "Bubby's" pies is if I make one myself! The first pie recipe I chose is actually a quiche. It's asparagus season... not to mention Asparagus Month AND Egg Month here in the U.S.! Asparagus is super cheap right now, and Josh and I love it. This recipe was great! Slightly salty in my opinion, but nothing that couldn't be fixed next time around. My parents went gaga over it. My mom came into my room with her mouth so full she could barely speak. She gave it two thumbs up!
The only advice I have to give about this recipe is about the baking time. My oven usually cooks faster than most recipes, so I was surprised when it took almost 50 minutes for my quiche to fully bake through. The recipe warns against over baking, so I was afraid to keep baking it. I took it out while it was still very wobbly. I let it cool for the suggested 20 minutes, and when I went to slice it the center was still very wet. I preheated the oven again, this time to 375°F. I let it bake for 10 more minutes. I'd say the quiche is done when the top starts to turn brown and a knife inserted near the center comes out with none of the wet egg mixture on it. I only let it cool for 10 minutes this time, and it was perfectly set when I sliced it. The melted and cooled cheese on top makes this quiche hard to slice neatly. Hence why there are no pictures of the sliced quiche. It wasn't pretty! ;D
I love the feel of making pie pastry by hand, but a food processor is just so quick and simple!
After pulsing a few times...
After adding the water the dough will still look somewhat dry, but you will should be able to form it into a disk without it crumbling apart. This picture is after I let it rest in the refrigerator.
Roll it out to about 12 inches and trim it. Roll it a little larger if you want a crimped edge on your pie.
I like to roll over mine with the rolling pin to cut off the excess and sort of "seal" it to the pie plate.
Like my pie weights? Yeah, those are pinto beans!
In retrospect, I should've par-baked this a little longer. The bottom was still soggy after I baked the quiche.
For the quiche, saute some chopped onions.
Blanch some asparagus.
Dress it all up and get it ready for the oven!
Tada! Mmm... look at that melty cheese! (Btw, this picture was taken when I took the quiche out before it was done (oops!)... It was slightly more brown on top when it was finally finished.)
MAKES ONE 9-INCH SINGLE-CRUST PIE
“This is a light luncheon quiche to showcase the pencil-thin new spring asparagus.”
Pastry for a 9-inch single-crust pie, par-baked and cooled in pie tin (recipe follows)
1 1/2 pounds asparagus, root ends snapped off
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups finely diced yellow onions (‘tis the season to use Vidalia!)
1 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt (I'd reduce this to 3/4 teaspoon next time)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch ground nutmeg
2 cups grated sharp white Cheddar cheese, divided
To par-bake the crust: Refrigerate the fully formed, crimped, uncooked crust for at least 20 minutes. Before baking, dock the bottom of the entire crust with a fork. Line the inside of the crust with parchment or foil and fill it with dried beans or pie weights, spreading them evenly all the way up to the top edge. Bake at 450° F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edge looks blonde and lightly blistered. The bottom of the crust will look partially cooked and there may still be some translucency to the dough. Carefully lift out the liner and weights. Cool the crust completely on a rack or trivet.
Blanch the asparagus in salted boiling water until tender (This only takes about 1 minute). Drain it and shock it in cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside to cool and dry off.
Melt the butter in a medium skillet and sauté the onions until golden; remove from the heat. Whisk together the cream, eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a medium bowl and add the onions.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line up the asparagus by the tips and cut off the tips whole. Slice the rest of the stalks into ¼-inch pieces. Put the asparagus in the bowl with the eggs and 1 ½ cups of the cheese. Mix well and pour into the pie shell. Arrange the tips concentrically on top and sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup cheese.
Bake on a lipped baking sheet for about 30 minutes, or until the center is set and jiggles slightly when shaken gently. Do not overbake. (My oven usually cooks faster than most recipes, so I was surprised when it took a lot longer for my quiche to fully bake through (about 45 minutes total). It’s done when the top starts to turn brown and a knife inserted near the center comes out with none of the egg mixture on it.)
Cool the quiche on a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
BASIC BUTTER AND SHORTENING PASTRY PIE DOUGH
“The butter gives this crust flavor and the shortening makes the dough a little easier to work with because of its higher melting temperature. It's an appealing choice for economy and convenience, and its forgiving nature makes it an easy dough to work with in production baking. This dough is a good choice for fried pies because it holds up so well and has good buttery flavor.”
8- TO 10-INCH SINGLE CRUST
4 to 5 tablespoons ice cold water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
3 tablespoons cold shortening
8- TO 10-INCH DOUBLE CRUST OR 12-INCH SINGLE CRUST
5 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
4 tablespoons cold shortening
12-INCH DOUBLE CRUST
1/2 cup ice cold water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
6 tablespoons cold shortening
Measure out the flour (unsifted) by leveling off dry measuring cups, and add the flour to large bowl. Add the salt to the flour and give it a quick stir to combine evenly.
Use cold butter, measure out the amount you need, and then coat the cold, solid stick with the flour in the bowl. Using a dough scraper or a long butcher knife, cut the butter lengthwise in half, and then lengthwise in quarters, coating each newly cut side with flour as you go. Dice the butter into 1/4-inch cubes (or 1-inch sticks if using a food processor). Break up any pieces that stick together and toss them all to coat them with flour. To use lard or shortening, chop it into 1/4-inch pieces (1-inch pieces for food processor method) and add them to the flour. Break up any pieces that stick together and toss them all to coat them with flour. (If it is a warm day, chill this mixture briefly in the freezer before continuing.)
HAND METHOD: Using a pastry cutter, press the blades through the mixture, bearing down repeatedly like you would to mash potatoes. Repeat this gesture until the largest pieces of fat are the size of shelling peas and the smallest are the size of lentils (none smaller). Do not get overenthusiastic here: this size range makes for excellent flakiness. Re-chill if necessary.
FOOD PROCESSOR METHOD: Add the flour, salt, and butter mixture to the food processor and pulse it a few times. Do not use the continuous ON setting for pastry. To get the fat to cut in evenly you must stop and angle the entire food processor to give its contents a jostle by shaking and tilting it every couple of pulses. Pulse the mixture until the larger fat pieces are the size of shelling peas and the smallest fat pieces are the size of lentils. Do not overmix. Watch closely-it typically takes less than 10 quick pulses to get there. If you have a few bigger chunks of butter in a mixture that is otherwise perfect, dump the mixture into a large bowl and cut the bigger chunks down to size by hand with a pastry cutter so that the whole mixture remains consistent for flakiness. Transfer the fat and flour mixture to a bowl and chill it. Do not use the food processor to add the water to a pastry crust. Always mix in the water by hand.
When adding the water, begin with a fully chilled flour and fat mixture and ice cold water. Be judicious, even stingy, with the water. Do not add all the water at once; it must be dispersed into the mixture incrementally. Add water two or three tablespoons at first, quickly tossing the mixture with your hands after each addition with light upward motion to distribute the water evenly throughout it. Work the dough as little as possible.
Continue adding little bits of water at a time. When there are no floury bits anymore—just little comet like cobbles that don't quite cohere—slow down and sprinkle or flick water in at this point. One drop can make the difference and bring it all together. The balance can shift quickly from crumbly to wet. To test the dough for consistency, lightly pat together some dough the size of a tennis ball. If the ball crumbles apart or has lots of dry looking cracks in it, the dough is still too dry; let it break apart. Add a drop or two of water to the outside of the ball and work it just a little. If it holds and feels firm and supple, mop up any remaining crumbs, with the ball—if they pick up easily, the dough is probably wet enough. If they fall back into the bowl, you might need a touch more water. The pastry should be just a little bit tacky when you touch it.
Wet dough may seem easier to work, but because the extra water overdevelops the gluten it makes a really tough crust. If your pie dough is stretchy (glutinous) and quickly retracts when you roll it out, chances are you have added more water than you need and your pastry is overworked. If your dough is quite sticky, soft, and wet, it is better to pitch it and start over.
Dough can feel like it's holding together because the butter is melting. If at any point the dough ceases to feel cool to the touch or the butter pieces feel melty, soft, and warm, put the whole mixture in the freezer until it's cooled down again—about 10 minutes. It's impossible to gauge the water ratio accurately if the fat is melting into the flour.
If you're making a single crust, shape the dough into one round ball with your hands. If you're making a double crust, divide the dough into slightly uneven halves and shape each half into a ball—the larger of which will be for the bottom crust, the smaller ball for the top. Cover each ball tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least half an hour to relax and slow the gluten development and re-chill the fat. In practical terms, this cold rest makes the dough easier to roll out.
Yay! Another video! I love making videos, and it sucks that I barely ever have time to make them. But here's a good one! As you know, I love pies. Me and pies are pretty much BFFs now. And you may also know that I have an infinity-long list of things I want to bake in my lifetime. One of those things is a pumpkin pie with a fresh pumpkin. I figured it would be a pretty fun video topic since I'd never done it before. We can learn together!
Pumpkin Pie with Caramel Sauce (from Bubby's Homemade Pies)
