Equal Parts

I only make pie during the holiday season, but that still means I’ve tried a lot of crust recipes over the years. The first came from Zingerman’s Bakehouse, when I took their BAKE! class back in 2011. I was such an amateur baker back then that I didn’t notice anything about their technique, for I had nothing to compare it to. Since then I’ve tried dough from Erin Jeanne McDowell, Rose Levy Berenbaum, Stella Parks, Sister Pie, Petee’s Pie, and probably more. Though there is certainly variation, each recipe generally calls for the same basic principles — 1) keep your ingredients cold, and 2) let butter bits remain. Keeping both of these intact will in theory produce a flaky crust; when the cold butter hits the hot oven it will release steam and — poof — create air pockets that cause the crust to flake.

Sometimes I’ve made great pies with excellent crusts. Sometimes I’ve balked at the mediocrity of my bakes (though as my husband points out, I’m the only one who is critical). This year was one such mediocre year. I made three pies for Thanksgiving at my brother’s house, but to get there I had to make at least six dough disks, maybe seven, I lost count. I partly blame my schedule, or lack thereof. Pie dough requires time, attention, and care. Maybe I tried to squeeze in my prep while the baby napped and I had laundry going and the bottles needed to be washed. Maybe I was rushing.

But I also think I wasn’t following the instruction I understood best. For the last dough recipe I tried, on Wednesday afternoon — my sixth, or seventh, the hail mary dough — I pulled out the Zingerman’s Bakehouse cookbook. Their recipe called for something different from all of the above. Instead of adding all of the butter to the flour at once, it instructs to first add three-quarters of it and incorporate to a crumbly cornmeal texture, then add the remaining quarter and continue to process until that last bit is pea-sized. The first round allows for a short (aka tender) crust, the second brings the flakes.

To me, this makes perfect sense! Previously I’ve been so concerned about butter bits that I don’t think I was breaking the butter down enough, so it wasn’t well-incorporated into the flour, and the flour was dry, so I either added more water unnecessarily, or I stubbornly did not add more water and dealt with dry and cracking dough. I would get my beloved flakes, but a tough crust along with them. No other recipe actually encouraged me to mix and crumble more, and the divided process made it easy to understand why. I understand the need to move fast, and of course less time working with the dough means you work faster, or at least that the process takes less time. But I think, if you take advantage of a refrigerator to cool and rest properly, then you can spend more time up front, and yield a better bake. I get it now.

Now, did this result in the best crust I’ve ever made? I’m not sure. I was still rushing. See above regarding my start on Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, plus I had laundry going and the bottles needed to be washed. But I will be going back to this recipe. In a full-circle moment, I ended with the recipe I started with in 2011.

All this to say that I’m eager to learn more. I’ll come up with an excuse to bake a pie soon. But I’m also suddenly curious to take it even further. I hear the contestants on The Great British Baking Show using the terms pastry dough and shortcrust pastry and pâte sucrée and pâte brisée for what I think looks like pie dough. Are those interchangeable? Are some of them? What are the differences? And so begins my course of study on classic French pastry. I bought a book.

But back to our Thanksgiving pies. They were truly great! We made Dutch apple (my mom’s favorite), bourbon pecan (Jeff’s choice), and pumpkin (my sister-in-law and the host’s request). My favorite was the pumpkin, which is not something I ever would have loved growing up. Squash-related dishes have only skyrocketed to the top of my list since knowing Jeff, lover of orange vegetables. I’m clearly not giving up on crust, but the pumpkin pie was so tasty that I thought, what if I made a dessert that was all filling? A pumpkin pie without the pie.

I consulted Alice Medrich’s recipe for pumpkin pudding, which I remembered from an old episode of In the Kitchen with Amelia and Teddy, but ultimately went back to the Petee’s Pie recipe I used on Thanksgiving day. It calls for the use of an actual pie pumpkin, of which we had several from our CSA (though you could also use butternut or honeynut or another squash, which I’d love to try). I believe it is more fun to use local produce than it is to open a can, and the holidays are all about fun. That said, don’t wedge this dessert into just the last week of November; pumpkin pudding and its warming spices could be an all-winter treat!

PUMPKIN PUDDING, inspired by Petee’s Pie

You’ll need:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
3 cups pumpkin (or other winter squash), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 1 medium pie pumpkin)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup whole milk
1 tsp molasses
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
Whipped cream for serving (optional)

Heat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, and spices. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the pumpkin, heavy cream, and milk. Cover and heat until the liquid just starts to bubble, then remove the lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook until the pumpkin is easily mashable, about 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent burning.

When the pumpkin is soft, add the sugar-spice mixture and molasses, and cook for about another minute, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and let cool just slightly, then transfer the mixture to a blender and process until smooth. Pour into a large bowl.

Meanwhile, in another bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the pumpkin puree to the eggs and quickly stir to combine (this is to temper the eggs). Then pour the entire egg mixture into the pumpkin puree, and stir to combine.

Pour into a 9-inch pie dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the center of the pudding is ever so slightly jiggly. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. This is delicious served warm, or completely cooled and refrigerated, with or without whipped cream.