Cooking and baking have been loves of mine for as long as I can remember. With an insatiable sweet tooth, I baked cookies, brownies, cakes and other sugary delights to no end. However, I stayed away from pies, primarily from pies with fruit fillings which required a pie crust not already formed into the pie plate.
In 2006, the then teenage son of my friends Leslie and Stu expressed interest in making an apple pie from scratch. At this same time, I decided I should get past my fear of pie crust and make one from scratch. Together, we made an apple pie using the Classic Crisco Pie Crust. The crust came out perfect. Flaky but not crumbly. I personally found the taste of the crust a touch on the salty side. This was due to a one to one substitution of kosher salt for table salt as called for in the recipe instead of 3/8 teaspoon of kosher salt for 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
For my next attempt at apple pie with homemade pie crust, I turned to the Whole Wheat Flaky Pie Crust recipe found on the back of the Bob's Red Mill 5-pound bag of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. I substituted organic shortening for butter and kosher salt for sea salt.
It was perfect.
Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Flaky Pie Crust recipe with kosher salt and organic shortening became my pie crust recipe. Everyone loved it. I found it easy to make especially where it could sit in the fridge for 1-2 days and not be problematic. I taught it to my cousin, Jenn, when she was interested in learning how to make apple pie from scratch. When I received a pastry blender as gift, making pie crust became a joy, not a fearful chore.
Then, in 2011, I began to have problems with my pie crust. It would break apart when transferring to the pie plate. It would crack and not drape over the filling. It was dry. It had no flavor. “Patchwork” became standard process to top the fruit filling.
I had lost my pie crust mojo.
Determined to get my mojo back, I decided to try a pie crust using spelt flour with a recipe found on Bob's Red Mill's website. Spelt is a whole grain and an ancient species of wheat whose taste I find similar to whole wheat.
The end result was a golden pie crust, not to sweet, but not super-flaky either.
My pie crust mojo is coming back.
Bob's Red Mill's Spelt Pie Crust Recipe: http://juliesnekitchen.blogspot.com/2016/01/single-or-double-spelt-pie-crust-for-9.html
Bob's Red Mill's Whole Wheat Flaky Pie Crust Recipe: http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=841
