Adding color, shapes, and textures is a good way to enhance the winning qualities of a pie. Inspired by the weavers and printmakers around me, I look to barn quilts, classic knit patterns, and ancient symbols for inspiration. Art reflects the world it lives in. Look around your world and translate what you see to your design.
A paint made from beets may be used on the crust on any pie you choose to make, whether brushed freehand onto individual pieces of dough or washed over a stencil to leave an image when the stencil is removed. This mixture doesn’t leave much in the way of flavor, but if applied right, it will impart a deep red or pink stain on the crust. It takes a few times to get the hang of it.
You will need: 1 double-crust pie, filled as desired, but not yet covered with the top crust
INGREDIENTS
2 medium beets
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons water
Coarse sugar for dusting
Egg wash (1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon heavy cream), if pastry cutouts are to be placed on the pie
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED
Measuring spoons
Roasting dish with lid
Knife
Cutting board
Blender
Airtight storage container
Pastry brush
Stencil
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the beets in the roasting dish, cover, and bake for 45 minutes or until the beets are tender to the touch of a fork. Let them cool.
Peel away the skins and quarter the beets.
Place them in the blender with the eggs and water. Blend the mixture into a creamy paste. There should be no chunks of beet, and the paste should be smooth.
Store the beet paint in an airtight container. Keep it refrigerated.
Create your pie, pausing after the top crust is cut but while it is still on the table. Paint your design on freehand or, if you’re stenciling, place your stencil on the dough and brush the beet paint over it. One pass is enough. Brushing too many times will cause it to seep under the stencil, leaving blurred edges instead of clean lines. Read helpful tips on making a stencil here.
Lift the beet-painted top with one hand on the edge and the other supporting it underneath and center it on the pie. Fold the edges over and crimp or fork the rim. Poke it several times with the tines of a fork. Sprinkle it with dusting sugar.
If you want to attach other decorative pastry cutouts, brush their undersides with egg wash in order to secure them, but don’t brush the whole top of the pie. This method excludes egg wash over the whole top, resulting in a vivid image with a bit less gloss.
Bake the pie as directed in the recipe.
SHAPES
Save your scraps of pie dough and form them into a ball. Roll them out into an even ⅛-inch-thick sheet. Using a pastry wheel, cut free-form shapes from the dough. Dough can also be cut with scissors, an X-Acto knife, and cookie cutters. I began cutting shapes into dough after working in paper cuts for many years. Understanding that a cold, firm sheet of dough is akin to a large, thick piece of paper, I cut and arranged the dough in a collage. Your hand has a shape it wants to make. With enough practice, your own voice will emerge. Rolling balls of dough between your hands is very simple and pretty, too. If the balls are quite tall, flatten them a bit between your finger and thumb before decorating with them.
A note: The taller the shapes rise above the crust, the quicker they will bake and color. Personally, I enjoy the charred look and taste of the taller shapes. Just as in bread, color equals flavor, and we look for the same trinity of deep brown, rusty red, and golden yellow in our crust. Having various heights of dough at different stages of caramelization enhances the overall flavor of your crust, making design not only heartwarming, but functional. Remember that when fusing shapes together or placing them on the top of your pie, there must be egg wash underneath to hold them fast.
TEXTURE
To add texture to your pie dough, limit yourself to a few common tools. I prefer a fork. This works best with a chilled dough. Dip your fork in a bowl of flour and press it, evenly and firmly, a quarter of the way into the dough. You can crosshatch it like the top of a peanut butter cookie, meet the edges tip to tip at an angle to create a mountain-like shape, and use the tines and the end to poke free-form patterns. Find inspiration in needlepoint, cross-stitching, and weaving images. If you plan to texture the top of your pie, do so when the top crust is still lying flat on the table. Assemble the pie after you’ve pricked and pressed the top.