Saratoga Farmers' Market

the perfect pie crust

Basic Pie Crust from King Arthur Flour

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(This recipe will make crusts for two single-crust pies or one double-crust pie) 

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (16 Tablespoons) unsalted butter
½ cup cold water or more as needed

Instructions:

  1. Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl
  2. Cut in the butter. For a tender crust, the fat particiles should be worked in quickly and the mixture will look like coarse meal e.g. corn meal. 
  3. Add water and toss just until a shaggy dough forms. Grab a handful of the dough and squeeze. If the dough appears floury and falls apart, add additional water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together when squeezed. 
  4. Remove the dough mass to a work surface. If needed, bring the dough together with a few quick, gentle kneads. 
  5. Divide the dough in half dough, then form each piece into a disk.
  6. Wrap the dough pieces in plastic wrap and flatten into a round about four inches in diameter and about one inch thick. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. 
  7. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, gently but firmly tap down the dough, then begin rolling from the center out, taking care not to roll over the edges. Rotate the dough ¼ turn between each roll to ensure the dough is not sticking and keeps its round shape. You need a 13-inch circle for a 9 inch pie plate.
  8. Transfer dough to the pie plate by first folding the circle in half and then into quarters. Place the point of the quartered dough at the center of the pie plate and gently unfold. 
  9. Trim the crust so there is about 1 ½ inch border of dough around the pie plate. 
  10. Add the filling, and roll out the top crust the same manner as the bottom crust. Transfer to cover the filling. If using a top crust, cut slits into it to vent steam while baking.

Giving Thanks With Pie

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Tomorrow is one of the year’s best days to shop at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. The Saturday before Thanksgiving offers an opportunity to fill your baskets and holiday menus with locally grown and raised foods from our region’s farms. We’ve talked up vegetables, turkeys and ducks. This week, we turn our attention to the sweet finale: pies.

Thanksgiving pie traditionally has been pumpkin, made by roasting or steaming chunks of fresh pumpkin or a similar winter squash, and then creating a puree of the pumpkin with eggs, milk, honey or maple syrup. From there, one can add cinnamon, nutmeg and/or allspice and then bake in a pie crust for 45 to 60 minutes. Such pies fill the belly with sweetness and warmth while making use of the foods that farmers bring to market.

local apples, photo by Pattie Garrett

But pie goes well beyond pumpkin. For pie fillings, think seasonal and think abundance. Local options include apple, sweet potato, and butternut squash. On the savory side, there’s quiche, chicken pot pies, and even shepherd’s pie, a simple dish of browned ground meat (beef, pork, or goat) topped with mashed potatoes and then baked.

A basic pie crust is made by blending flour, water, butter and a little salt into a dough. As food blogger Pattie Garrett learned in a recent workshop at the King Arthur Flour baking school, keeping the ingredients cold and allowing the dough to chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out eases the process and helps ensure a smooth, uncracked crust.

There is plenty of room to get creative with pie. For instance, Gomez Veggie Ville’s Lizbeth Gomez artfully blends sweet potatoes with butternut squash in a graham cracker crust. This combination makes a pie that is creamy and packed with a phenomenal flavor. As the accompanying recipe shows, it also is quite easy to make.

If you are in a rush to get the other holiday tasks done but want to serve a homemade pie, you can even find that at the Saturday market. Local bakers have ready-to-serve apple, pumpkin, cherry and pecan for holiday meals, and also frozen pot-pies to pull out of your freezer for a delicious meal any time.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays in the Lincoln Baths Building, Saratoga Spa State Park. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the FreshFoodNY app.