The Martha Stewart Tip That Will Ensure Your Pie Is The Perfect Golden-Brown
As we draw ever closer to Thanksgiving, only one dessert comes to mind: pie. And we're not just talking about pumpkin pie; we're talking about apple pie, cherry pie, blueberry pie, pecan pie — pretty much any kind of pie you can imagine may show up at your or a relative's Thanksgiving table. Despite the popularity of eating fruit or filling from a flaky pastry crust, people all over the country may find themselves making simple, but easy mistakes that turn a delicious pastry into something that should have just stayed in the oven.
Fortunately, these simple mistakes have very common causes and even more common solutions. If you were to dig into your fresh-baked pumpkin pie and discover that the bottom of the pie has melded into the pie filling to form a gummy mess, it may be because you didn't let your crust set before you added the fillings or you didn't use a baking stone tray to get more heat to the bottom of the pan (via King Arthur Baking). If you discover your crust is tough instead of light and flaky, Food52 suggests that you may have accidentally overworked the dough or added too much water into it. The art of pie-making is one that demands constant practice.
But how can you make sure that your pie has that perfect golden-brown topping? For an easy answer, look no further than lifestyle doyenne, celebrity chef and food media personality Martha Stewart.
Martha Stewart wants you to top your pie crust with sugar
Martha Stewart was more than happy to share her techniques on how to ensure a perfect, quality pie. While many of the tips she provides on her website are useful when you're preparing the dough, there's one tip that she suggests will help to give the finished product that glossy golden sheen: add sugar.
"Sugar on the crust not only helps make it pretty," explained Stewart to Food & Wine, adding, "but it gives it a nice crunch." Stewart also explains that another fundamental step towards getting your pie to have a golden brown is to bake it until it reaches that color. While this may seem like a pretty obvious tip — after all, anyone would want to bake their pie until it looks done — Stewart says that people are "afraid" of ruining their pie by letting it set in the oven. The reason some pies may not have that trademark shine is that you might have instinctively pulled it out too early for fear of it being burned. Stewart's advice is to let the pie sit a little longer in the oven, with it being monitored from time to time to ensure it's not burning.
If you want to really show off the golden color of your pie crust, What's Cooking America suggests brushing the pie down with a beaten egg wash mixed with heavy whipping cream.