66. Erin Jeanne McDowell: How To Make Excellent Pie (It Isn’t As Hard As You Think)

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Erin is a cookbook author, recipe developer, and baker extraordinaire. She started baking as a young girl and put her skills to the test at the Culinary Institute of America. She’s now published three award-winning cookbooks, all on baking, and hosts the binge-worthy series Bake It Up A Notch for Food52. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Food Network, Bon Appetit, Food52 just to name a few. 

 

In this episode of That Was Delicious, Brooke and Erin discuss everything you need to know about making fantastic homemade pie from scratch, including best practices for prepping and baking pie dough, rookie mistakes that people make when baking pie, some of Erin’s favorite recipes (and her favorite pies for beginners), plus a healthy dose of encouragement for anyone who may be new to pie baking (spoiler alert: you got this!).

Key Takeaways

• [04:18] Erin's love of pies started with family traditions and bonding moments with her grandmother over pie-making.
• [08:29] The communal nature of pie makes it an excellent opportunity to bring people together; it is inherently a "shared experience."
• [12:45] The "Sturdy Pie Challenge" is Erin's way of teaching proper pie-baking techniques to help achieve a stable, sliceable crust without sacrificing tenderness and flakiness.
• [15:52] The importance of par-baking (partially baking a crust) and blind baking (fully baking a crust) for achieving a sturdy and crispy pie base.
• [20:00] Chilling dough and understanding the role of butter temperature in achieving a flaky pie crust.
• [27:45] Allowing pies to cool at room temperature is essential for the pie to properly set and achieve the desired texture, even if patience is required.
• [35:29] Custard and cream pies are great starting points for beginners, as they are simpler to master compared to fruit pies.
• [45:55] The joy and creative fulfillment that come from baking, especially making pies, which Erin encourages everyone to explore.

 

Notable Quotes

• (06:17) “Pie is really meaningful to me on multiple levels, and I’ve always wanted to spread the gospel of pie.” – Erin Jeanne McDowell
• (09:35) “When in doubt, chill it out.” – Erin Jeanne McDowell
• (32:04) “Don’t be afraid of a deeply golden brown crust. There’s a big difference between deeply golden and burnt.” – Erin Jeanne McDowell
• (45:30) “Baking in general is like muscle memory, and the more you do it, the less scary and more automatic it becomes.” – Erin Jeanne McDowell

 

Resources

 

• Watch Erin’s @food52 series, Bake It Up A Notch!
• Buy a copy of Erin’s pie cookbook, The Book On Pie
• Get a copy of Erin’s newest cookbook, Savory Baking
• Follow Erin on Instagram
• Follow Female Foodie on Instagram