A Great Pie Crust Recipe
First instalment of my one-armed baking series.
Most of us have a never-fail recipe for some kind of last minute throw together dessert. Until we don’t. What’s the use, if you no longer enjoy the first bite of your fool-proof, thingymi-jig pud pud that you whip out at the end of what was, an all-encompassing dinner preparation for 12, that’s left you with a heat rash between your thighs!? After such a solo marathon, I like to have dessert to look forward to, thank you.
So here she is and she hasn’t failed me yet. You could make double the recipe and leave one portion in the freezer for a rainy day. Chef’s kiss. I can attest that I have made mine all times one-handed (baby in other) and with the help of some very eager but seriously unhelpful 4/5 year olds. Everything I do now, I do one-handed. If the recipe weren’t so forgiving, it would have been nothing short of a disaster. There is a proper method that I haven’t followed, so I am certain that your final product will be of equal enjoyment if you just bang all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands until combine, like I did. Pastry needs your hands, or if you can be bothered, a food processor (the cleaning though!!). The dough will feel wet so form into a disc shape, wrap in baking paper and place in the freezer for 20 mins. I used about 600 gr of frozen mixed berries for the filling the first time I made this but have also used bad bad peaches - about 8 of them cut in to rough chunks, macerated in a tablespoon of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice for 10 minutes or so to release some juices.
SIDE NOTE: The pastry is crumbly that you may start to freak out that you can’t roll it without it breaking apart. This is the beauty of it, just smoosh the broken pieces together to create some consistency for the base so the juices don’t soak through and ruin your base. The top piece of the pie can have broken bits so you can see the fruit through it, I like that, that’s nice.
Ingredients:
cold butter 175 gr
plain flour 225 gr
large egg yolks 2
raw sugar 2 tablespoons, plus extra for sprinkling
any fruit 6oo gr roughly
egg wash of 1 egg
Method:
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, combine and then add eggs mixing with your hands until combined evenly.
Put dough in plastic or baking paper in disc shape and place in the freezer for 20 minutes or until you need it.
Roll out 2/3 of the pastry to a 30cm-ish diameter to a somewhat even consistency with some flour on a working bench atop parchment paper. Move to a baking tray then place your desired fruit in the center, leaving about 2cm from the edge and roughly fold in the edges. Roll out the remaining bits of pastry and place on top, leaving gaps between bits of dough so you can see the fruit inside.
Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with raw or demerara sugar. Bake at 220 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Serve with cream or creme fraîche or ice cream or greek yoghurt or pouring cream or the lot.
Some off-topic mentions:
This insane shaggy rug by Marie Olsson Nylander. Surely to make any kind of home feel on the cusp of greatness. Kind of a debacle for real people living a full life - animals, kids, sloppy guests etc but one can and SHALL dream.
Beautifully written children’s books is my new jam. New mum alert!!! She, who is me, is greedily munching through bookstores (my fav place) searching out well-written stories for my baby, who seems to take to them as if it’s his love language. So cute!!!!! Just so happens a children’s book and a good substack like this one is about the only reading I can get through atm. I also left my phone at home the other morning and to quench *the thirst*, bought myself a newspaper? Crazy stuff. Anyway these books make me cry - something about new motherhood makes you uber sensitivo. Some recs: Baboo The Unusual Bee by Lliana Bird, The Lion Who Wanted To Love by Giles Andreae, Magic Beach by Alison Lester. We are so far partial to a rhyme.
These t.shirts are shockingly un-stainable by breastmilk and I am SO grateful but also totally idyllic for those not leaking juices. Also the perfect fit and fairly reasonable as far as the world of well-made, sustainable cotton t.shirts go. I just bought the bone colour which is the perfect whitish-grey, but I also have the grey, the black…and the white. I don’t know what it is but the stains actually come out and the white stays white which is cool and did I mention it’s sustainable? They make the perfect gift too!
This AD tour of Paloma Elsesser’s home in Brooklyn, NYC. I have a new appreciation for Milanese design. Her taste is SO layered, personal and eclectic - what I love in a home - just really great pieces but not overly complex that it becomes un-livable. The dining chairs do look uncomfortable though.
Leaning into tapestries at the moment, something peaceful like these beautifully weaved Anna Fiedler textile pieces for Studio Sutram would be nice… intended for the bed but special enough to hang on a plain white wall. I do believe more and more that a bedroom should be peaceful and second to that, the bathroom - have fun everywhere else. A STUNNING block-printed handmade Indian quilt is enough to lift any beige bedroom vibes anyway, whilst still keeping it quaint, it will just cost you.
And finally working on some more pillows for sale..all made in Sydney in beautiful Italian linen..here is one sitting pretty in our home at the moment. She measures 60cm x 60cm with the softest, most comfy, feathery insert. More to come!
Your one-armed friend,
Claudia x
Yum to all of the above.