Week One

We should probably tell you... neither of us have ever attempted to make a homemade pie before tonight. The night began with pure excitement. It started with Beth's Pie League playlist, complete with lyrical tributes to pie, including Cherry Pie by Warrant, American Pie by Don McLean, and a little-known gem, called Chicken Pot Pie by The Spoiled Chefs.

Our hopes were nearly as high as our apprehension. Beth's pie of choice was her favorite, Strawberry Rhubarb, and Andrea made Wow Blueberry Pie. Both recipes were from the Buenie Church cookbooks, your classic small-town-grandma cookbook.

We will be telling the story of Pie League with mostly step-by-step photos, at least when we remembered to take step-by-steps!

First up...

BETH vs. STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE

I started out with the crust, my scariest endeavor! See, I guess I should explain. I actually HAVE attempted to make a homemade pie. Three years ago I tried making a homemade pie crust, and it ended up in the trash. End of story. So this time around I was a little worried. As you can see, it actually rolled out without half of it sticking to the counter, so I was already ahead! Yep, this one was NOT going in the trash!

Next I chopped up the rhubarb and strawberries, and of course ate a few along the way. Even the rhubarb. It was so tart, but it just reminded me of being a kid and eating it like celery, and I just couldn't stop! I put a layer of the strawberry/rhubarb mix on the bottom.

Then the wonderful sugar mixture....

And then the remainder of the strawberry/rhubarb mix...

Next I "dotted" with butter. Andrea had no idea what this meant. But when a cookbook says "dot with butter", doesn't that pretty much describe what you're going to do? I thought it was pretty obvious.

Then came the top crust, along with "venting" it. My little cuts were NOT cute and even. They were pretty much all over the place. Oh, and notice the little patch in the top of the crust. This has become a reoccurring theme in Pie League. Not by choice of course. Our top crusts just always seem to need some repair!

Into the oven.....

"OH MY GOD! IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!" That was the exact quote when I opened the oven door. Can you see the excitement on my face?!

There she is. My first glorious pie. Now I don't wanna get cocky, but this is a damn good lookin' pie! But how will it taste...

ANDREA vs. WOW BLUEBERRY PIE

Don't ask me about the "Wow."

I'm not a baker. I'm just going to put that out there right now. So this new adventure was extra scary for me. I started with the crust, which terrified me. Beth says she screwed up a pie crust once. Well, I screw up everything I bake. Everything was going great, until I picked up my spoon and saw that it had broken inside the bowl. Or so I thought. Beth let me think this for a really long time, while I looked through the dough for the rest of my battered spoon. She finally shared that this wierd spoon was made that way, and that I did not, in fact, lose half of it in my dough. So, that was the start of my pie-making journey! Not looking good.

I did, however, find that rolling out the dough can be quite fun, especially if you have awesome music to dance and roll to.

Somehow, I got the bottom crust into the pie dish in one piece.

I mixed up my blueberry mixture, all the while sampling the berries, and commenting on how tart they are. Now, a smart baker may have taken that as a sign to add more sugar. We figured that out much later.

Looking good and crappy at the same time!

I made the most perfect, sweet little air vents, didn't I?

Here goes nothing! There's no turning back now!

"AHHHHH!!!! She's purty!!!!!"

How perfectly imperfect is that?

There's a lot more of that beautiful blueberry goodness all over the bottom of the oven.

THE RESULTS

While Beth's pie was not the prettiest, it tasted delicious and was a success. Andrea's was beautiful, but the filling was very tart. Both crusts were good, which we were thankful for, since we were so terrified of the homemade crust.

WEEK ONE LESSONS LEARNED
1. Pies spill over. Put foil on bottom of oven.

2. Blueberry pie is messy.

3. Self-cleaning oven is a must


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WEEK ONE RECIPES

BETH'S PIE
STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB PIE
(From the Buenie Cookbook, 3rd Edition, 2009)

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbs butter
2 cup strawberries
1 cup rhubarb, cut in 1" pieces
1 (9") pie crust

Combine sugar, flour and salt. Arrange half of berries and rhubarb in pie crust. Sprinkle with half of sugar-flour mixture. Add remaining fruit mixture; add sugar-flour mixture on top. Dot with butter. Put on top crust and bake at 425 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

CRUST:
4-H PIE CRUST (makes a double pie crust)
(From the Buenie Cookbook, 3rd Edition, 2009)

3 cups flour

1 cup shortening

1 egg, beaten
5 tbs cold water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vinegar

Cut shortening into flour with pastry blender. Stir in gradually the liquid mixture.

ANDREA'S PIE
WOW BLUEBERRY PIE
(From the Buenie Cookbook, 3rd Edition, 2009)

3/4 cup sugar
3 tbs cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4-5 cups blueberries

Recipe for a 9" double pie crust
Bake in a 9" pie pan on 425 degrees for 50 minutes on lower shelf.

CRUST:
TENDER PIE CRUST (makes a double pie crust)
(From the Buenie Cookbook, 3rd Edition, 2009)

1 1/2 heaping cups flour

3/4 cup lard

1/3 cup ice water

Dash of salt

Mix flour, lard and salt into a mixture that resembles pea-size crumbles. Add ice water until dough comes together. Separate into 2 equal balls of dough and cool in refrigerator while getting your filling ready. Roll out the dough for bottom crust; fill pie. Roll out second ball for top. Crimp edges to seal and poke airholes in top for steam to escape.

NOTE: We have learned (actually Andrea has learned) the hard way that it is better to make the pie crust first, and then the filling. Otherwise the filling tends to get very mushy. Stay tuned for Week 3 and Andrea's "Applesauce" pie.

Also, in Andrea's pie crust recipe it calls for lard. In week 1, Andrea used shortening, which works, but she has since used lard for this crust and it turns out much flakier. There's something about the meatiness of lard that works.