February is National American Pie Month! Have you ever baked a pie from scratch? I can guess which demographic of readers of this column can say yes, but I also know there are a lot that will say no. There is something very satisfying about taking a bite of a pie that you have made start to finish though and I don’t mean by opening a box. And a crust done right-Mmmm delicious! Pie crust making is kind of a science in and of itself, but I am going to provide some tips to hopefully help you out a little.

Gluten molecules binding together is what holds dough together, but you don’t want them bound so tightly your pie crust is tough as a cracker. So here’s the low down on what strengthens gluten bonds. Having lots of gluten to begin with. Use cake flour for your pie crust. It has the lowest protein/gluten content. Water activates gluten binding processes so use the minimal amount necessary. Stirring/Kneading activates the bonding reactions too, so knead minimally. Salt attracts gluten molecules to each other, so use only a pinch for taste or leave it out. Notice the theme? Less is more!

Following those guidelines will keep your crust more on the crumbly side but this does not really explain the flakes of a good pie crust. Here’s where butter comes into play. Fats and proteins do not interact. So when chunks of butter are sandwiched between dough and melt during baking, it creates steam which creates a pocket where the chunks were sitting and dough was unable to bind to itself. Those pockets are your flakes! Gotta love science! So here’s what you need to keep in mind about your butter. Temperature-if the butter melts before getting into the oven then there will be no steam and therefore no flakes. So keep that butter as cold as possible before going into the oven! Size matters! If butter pieces are too big, they will create a hole in your crust upon melting in the oven, instead of a pocket of air. If it’s too small, you will not even notice any flakes.

Fun Facts:

Oliver Cromwell banned the eating of pie in 1644, declaring it a pagan form of pleasure. For 16 years, pie eating and making went underground until the Restoration leaders lifted the ban on pie in 1660.

“As easy as pie” is an American expression. In the 1890’s, “pie” was a common slang expression meaning anything easy, a cinch; the expression “easy as pie” stemmed quite readily from that.

Apple pie is the most popular flavor in America, followed by pumpkin, chocolate, lemon meringue and cherry according to the American Pie Council.

The world’s most expensive pie was designed at the Lord Dudley Hotel in Sydney and was worth about $9,500. Ingredients included two cuts of premium beef, two whole rock lobsters, rare winter black truffles, two bottles of Penfolds Grange Reserve (a wine) and pastry with 24k German gold leaf.

The world’s largest pie weighing 23,237 lb was made by 17 catering students from Stratford-upon-Avon College, Warwickshire, UK at Hand Stadium, Clevedon, Somerset, UK on April 1998. The pie was made in a container measuring 32 ft. long, 7 ft. 7 in wide and 2 ft. deep.

I have not enough space to go into history and all that. So I will save it for another column. I could write pie columns for a month or two. There are so many options! For now, make your grocery list and meet me in the kitchen this weekend for a traditional pie fest!