It can be made in a food processor, mixer, or by hand. Just make sure the butter and water are cold, and don’t over mix this dough, or it will be tough after baking.

It has a high ratio of fat to flour, wich gives the pastry a crumbly texture and buttery flavor. it can be used both in sweet and savory pastries.

Adapted  from www.Marthastewart.com, and chocolateandzucchini.com)

Ingredients : (Makes enough for 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9-inch pies)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup ice water, plus more if needed

In the bowl of a food processor or mixer, combine the flour, salt and sugar. Mix for a couple of seconds at low speed.

Add the cold butter, and mix at medium speed.

When the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, and with the machine still running, add ice water through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until dough holds together without being wet or sticky.

Do not overwork the dough or it will not hold together very well, and you will have issues rolling it out later. About 30 seconds after you add the water should be fine.

This is what it should look like as you stop mixing :

Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. “Throwing” a little bit of flour over the work surface will help you handle and roll the dough without sticking.

Shape it into a flattened disk.

Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

The dough can be frozen up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Conclusion :

I hadn’t made pate brisee in years, and this recipe was easy to follow. I picked ideas here and there online, and came up with something that seemed to work for me. It was very easy (but i am lucky to have a stand mixer), if you look around on other sites you’ll see you can do the same exact thing in a food processor.

I went to my local grocery store a couple of days ago, and the pumpkings were all over the displays. Sweet pie pumpkins, fairytale pumpkins, huge ones, miniature ones, i just could not ignore them.

Pumkpin isn’t a popular fruit in french cuisine, so i was a little intimidated and had to do a bunch of research before i decided to get all the ingredients and make this my first post here.

Most recipes you find online make you use canned pumpkin. This is ideal if you want to make a pumpkin pie in the spring, when fresh pumpkins aren’t available, or when you do not have the time to cut one up, seed it, cook it, and puree it.

However i wanted to make the real thing, had enough time on my hands, so i decided to go with the fresh pumpkin option.

I chose a “sweet pie” pumpkin, which is quite small as you can see in this picture, as it sits next to a 29Oz can, and weighs just under 4 pounds.

INGREDIENTS

(makes one 9-inch pie)

1 sweet pie pumpkin

1 cup light-brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (note : you can replace the 3 spices by using 2 teaspoons of “pumpkin spice”)

3 large eggs, plus one for glaze

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

1 tablespoon heavy cream, for the glaze

Pie dough (i made and used a Pate Brisee, recipe will come shortly)

DIRECTIONS :

Preheat oven to 325degrees F (165 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes. Cut the pumpkin in half, using a bread knife (a smooth knife is more likely to slip and hurt you).

Remove the seeds and scrape the insides, using a tablespoon or a ice cream scoop. You want to get out that stringy, dangy stuff that coats the inside surface. Place both halves in a dish lined with aluminium foil, and add an inch of water in the bottom of the dish to prevent the pumpkins from getting too dry. Cook for about 40 minutes, until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork.

Increase oven temperature  to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

Cool until just warm, and scrape pumpkin flesh from the peel.  It should separate easily in fairly large chunks, if the pumpkin is cooked enough.

Puree the pumpkin in a blender or with a hand blender, until smooth. I found that working in two batches, and adding about a quarter of the evaporated milk with each batch made the blender’s job easier.

Prepare your pie dish, by rubbing butter all over the inside, and then adding a little bit of flour in it. Tap out the excess and make sure the flour covers the whole dish, it will make the pie crust not stick.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pumpkin puree, and 3 eggs. Beat well. Add evaporated milk, and combine. Set aside.

Roll your pate brisee or other pie dough into a 12 inch circle.

Fit pastry into a 9-inch pie plate; trim dough evenly along the edge. If the dough begins to soften too much, place it in the fridge for 15 minutes, before pouring the mixture inside.

Perforate the bottom of the dish so the crust stays smooth as it cooks. Imprint the sides of the pie with a fork to decorate.

Make the glaze: beat the remaining egg, and combine with heavy cream. Brush glaze very lightly on edges of pie shell.

Fill pie shell with pumpkin mixture. Transfer to prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes more.

Serve with whipped cream (recipe coming shortly) and enjoy your home-made pumpkin pie!

Conclusion :

It was a lot of work, and took a while, but it was totally worth it. The pie tasted good, and i will have to make one using canned pumpkin next time, to compare. I am happy to call my first pumpkin pie a success, and i hope yours comes out just as good!