Richard’s Almanac: How to bake a pie from scratch

I always thought there was some great mystery behind making pies. A mystery that I believed I could never solve.I decided to start out slowly and for my first attempt

However, in late August, a pear tree that I planted 10 years ago was loaded with fruit for the first time. They were not plump, just hard pears. I picked all of them and placed them in the fridge. It was then that I was hit with the challenge of  “why not make a pear pie?” Could I do it, I wondered?

I am not a freshman when it comes to being in the kitchen, but I have never been a “from scratch” baker. I figured that even at my age, I could master a new skill.

I decided to start out slowly and for my first attempt I would employ a Pillsbury ready-made crust — just roll it out. I peeled and cored the pears, following directions from the “Joy of Cooking” and mixed them with appropriate amounts of sugar, flour and water and carefully placed the pear mixture in an 11-inch pie plate on top of the already spread out bottom crust.

I carefully peeled off the top crust and placed it on top. After 40 or so minutes in the oven at about 420 degrees, I had a pie. Tasted delicious. Everyone loved it. However one purist told me, “It’s not a real pie because you did not make the crust yourself.”

The challenge continued and I decided to make my own crust. I was worried though, thinking that it might not taste as good as the Pillsbury variety.

I armed myself with a rolling pin, a pastry blender and plenty of flour, sugar and butter and followed the directions laid out in my mother-in-law’s cookbook. She was from an Indiana farm where baking from scratch was a way of life. She passed her skills on to my late wife who could bake a pie at the drop of a hat.

When my grandchildren came over after school, we had a collaborative effort to make a crust. We also cut up apples and after all was said and done, we had one of the best pies I have ever tasted. And they’re not very  complicated.

I decided to move ahead and make more pies. Peaches lend themselves very well to pies — they don’t really have to be peeled. As we moved into fall, pumpkin pie became a logical seasonal choice. I discovered that most of the recipes for pumpkin pie call for canned pumpkin.

A talk with a farmstand proprietor revealed that the best pumpkin for a pie is a “cheese pumpkin,” so called because of its shape.

After quartering the pumpkin and removing the seeds, I baked the pieces at 400 degrees for about an hour. I then scooped out the cooked pumpkin, puréed it and added the eggs, cream, sugar and seasoning. A great pumpkin pie.

I can’t wait until Thanksgiving. I am bringing the pies.