Why yes, you’ve assumed correctly. I, Kristine, have successfully baked my first pie from (semi-) scratch! Its been a long time in the making and it wasn’t as disastrous as I was expecting. That being said, there was a bit of improvisation and problem-solving, but man, did the pie turn out yummy. I have spoken to many people about baking and my pie experience and thought that any first-time-pie-bakers out there could benefit from my learning experience. Start preheating your oven, it’s time to bake a pie!
Let’s pause for a moment and marvel at its golden-ness.
Lesson #1: Do What Makes Sense.
I used this recipe from Robert Irvine and as I was reading it, something didn’t make sense to me: Why would I place the apples in the pie crust without soaking ’em in cinnamon, sugar and butter? Maybe to some, that’s the way to do it, but it seemed backwards to me. What I Did: I mixed the sugar, melted butter, cinnamon and apples together, then arranged them in the pie crust and then poured the remaining butter, sugar, and cinnamon over the top of the apples.
Similarly, if you’re baking a pie for the first time, please save yourself the headache and the mess and get yourself a store bought crust. It was the best decision I made regarding this entire process. I highly recommend the one I used – Meijer brand graham cracker crust!
(More on the blog: What I’ve Learned Working 8 to5 )
Lesson #2: You Will Make Mistakes – Adapt.
This recipe used a crumble-y crust for the top layer of the pie, which turned out super delicious and beautifully golden (story to come about that). I got so excited and skipped the final 1/3 of the recipe where it calls for the crumble topping to be put on the pie after it has already baked for 30 minutes. Luckily, I realized my mistake after the pie had only been in the oven for 5 minutes. I quickly came to find that trying to remove the crumble topping was (a) dumb (b) very hot and (c) impractical, so what did I do? I covered the whole thing in foil so that the apples inside the pie would cook, but the top wouldn’t burn.
Which brings me to my next story…
So after the pie had finished cooking and I removed the foil so the crumble topping could brown for the last 15 minutes, I took my delicious smelling pie out of the oven only to see that the top was still flour-white. My brilliant boyfriend saw my disappointment and suggested putting it in the broiler. After 5 minutes in the broiler, the top was beautifully golden brown and the inside was toasty warm.
(More on the blog: Recipe: Heart-Shaped Chocolate Cake with Strawberries )
Lesson #3: Make Things Easy on Yourself.
Use apples that are on sale at the store. Use a pre-made pie crust. Bake on a day where you have time to enjoy the process. Personally, I find cooking and baking very therapeutic, so I try to enjoy the process as much as possible. If I’m not enjoying the process, then I can usually attribute my unhappiness to feeling rushed or that it’s taking too long and I have somewhere else I need to be.
Understand what it is that you don’t enjoy about the cooking or baking process and find a way to either completely annihilate that feeling or find a happy middle ground. In my mind, when the end goal is filling my belly with tasty treats, I will do anything I can to savor the moment as long as possible.
YES to the pre-made pie crust. I made a post about this maybe a year or two ago and wrote about all the flubs I had while trying to make my own crusts. I’ve almost got it down now.
Great tips! I love a good home-made pie!
Me too, it was so much more simple to make than I had imagined!
I love baking pies when fall rolls around so I will keep these tips in mind!
I definitely see pie baking in my future for the rest of the fall. I just hope the weather finally cools down so pies feel seasonal, ha ha!
Awesome tips, I remember my first pie it was not good at all!!!
http://xoxobella.com
Hopefully, you haven’t been completely discouraged from trying again!
Great tips for first time bakers! I agree, cooking is super therapeutic for me and I love taking the time to do it properly x
Right!? I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to discover cooking/baking’s therapeutic effects.
Great tips! I love baking but it definitely took wayyyy to much trial an error haha this would’ve been helpful!
Rachel | http://www.theconfusedmillennial.com
Yes! I’m all for trial and error sometimes, but most of the time I will definitely use store-bought short cuts if it means enjoying something home made and yummy.
I needed this post because I am definitely not experienced in the kitchen! Accepting that I’ll make mistakes while cooking and baking has been hard but necessary!
http://thealwaysblog.com
Yes, yes, yes! Not to mention, even if you make a mistake and something doesn’t look right, 99% of the time it’s still delicious 🙂
I am not the best baker but I adore pie! I need these tips to improve my baking (:
I’m not the best baker either, so I definitely do not shy away from store-bought short cuts to make the entire process easier.
I’ve never made a pie so I definitely need this! I’ve been thinking abut trying my hand at one for Thanksgiving.
LiveLifeWell,
Allison
Do it!! Especially if you use a store-bought crust, it’s as easy as pie 😉
I LOVE to bake but rarely attempt pies- this post may have inspired me 😉
xoxo A
http://www.southernbelleintraining.com
I HIGHLY recommend it. Once I found the recipe I used, I was like “Why does everyone complain about pies? It’s so easy…”
I am so bad at baking. My mum is amazing at baking, but I guess I didn’t get the genes haha! I’ll definitely be trying out these tips ’cause I love a good pie! x
Yay! Best of luck in your pie making endeavor!
loved the tips!
Thanks for reading 🙂
I have never baked a pie from scratch, but this really inspires me to do so!
Yay, I hope you do! The process is only as hard as you make it, I’ve learned.
Looks awesome! I definitely want to try making a pie this fall. XO, Nicole // http://www.empirestyles.com
Let me know how it goes, if you do! I’m sure it’ll be tasty 🙂