Hudson Valley Farm To School: As Easy as Pie

Thursday, February 14, 2013

As Easy as Pie

Do you want to know the secret to making a flakey pie crust? Ask a first grader at Haldane Elementary School. Last week, the first graders got a visit from Chefs Sarah Garcia and Matt Sporer, students and Slow Food members of the Culinary Institute of America.

For the month of February, Haldane featured local apples for their Chef in the Classroom program. Chef Sarah, pastry chef in-training at the CIA, brought in her recipe to make mini apple pies with the first graders.

Using a variety of local apples, Chefs Sarah and Matt put the kids to work peeling and slicing.

Yes, six year-olds can use knives. Chef Matt gave the kids a quick lesson in knife safety.

While Chef Matt worked with one group squeezing the lemon juice then cooking the apples with butter, sugar and cinnamon...

Chef Sarah taught another group how to make a flakey pie crust: Flour, butter and ice water. Don't over mix, and don't worry if you see little chunks of butter in the dough. (Chef Sarah explained to us the secret or should I say science to a flakey crust: When the crust is baking in the oven, the bits of butter create pockets of steam that give the crust the flakey layers.)
Next, quickly form the dough into a ball and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Chef Sarah brought in dough she made ahead of time and rolled it out with the kids. Everyone got a chance cutting the circles,

adding the filling,

brushing the pastry with an egg wash, then

pinching the pies closed and edging them with a fork.

While this was going on, Chef Matt was whipping up some heavy cream – the hard way – with a whisk.

How do you know when the cream is ready? Flip the bowl upside down over your head and count to 10. If it isn't ready... well I'll let you fill in the blanks.