Analyzing a Pumpkin Pie.

During the fall, I love all things pumpkin. I get excited when I see that Starbucks again has pumpkin spice lattes and mourn when they're no longer available. The past few years, I've made apple pies in the fall, and I've had success with that, so I thought a pumpkin pie shouldn't be too hard.   And it wasn't... kind of.  This won't be a typical "go through the recipe" post, because to be honest, while people ate the pie and thought it was good, I wasn't 100% happy with it, and I only want to share recipes that are absolutely worth the time and effort, especially pie recipes.  I did say that I want to share both my good and bad experiences on this blog, though, so that's what I'm going to do here.  Again, this wasn't a disaster by any means.  I just know there were things I could have done much better.

My first mistake was using an unfamiliar crust recipe that only called for butter, and a lot of butter at that.  "What's wrong with butter?!" I hear you ask.  Nothing's wrong with butter!  I love butter.  I can even get on board with a lot of butter in many recipes.  But for pie, I'm convinced that using half butter and half shortening, or even lard, makes a flakier crust while keeping the flavor, and using the correct amount keeps it from getting too greasy or soggy on the bottom.  A general rule of thumb is a 3:2:1 ratio of flour to fat to liquid.

The crust had way too much butter in it 

that melted and pooled at the bottom, making it soggy.

Then I didn't roast the pumpkins enough... and I didn't use great pumpkins in the first place. I bought two sugar ("pie") pumpkins in a kit and followed the directions on it (I didn't use the rest of the kit, just the pumpkins), but next time, I will either try butternut squash or just used canned pumpkin.  If I use squash, I will also follow the example of many other recipes and cut them in half first, scoop out the pulp and seeds, and then roast at 400°F for about an hour until the skin is golden and the squash feels tender. Baking them whole and not long enough made it difficult to extract and puree the meat of the pumpkin, so I ended up with more lumpiness to the pie than I would have liked. 

The cooked pumpkins were still much too stringy 

to get make it easy to get the meat out to make a nice, smooth puree

After looking at the recipe and seeing that it called for more liquid and fewer eggs than many other recipes, I also decided to add a tablespoon of flour to make sure the pie set in the oven.  I think it would have set fine without it, and the flour created a little more lumpiness.  If you decide to add any flour to a recipe that has to set, it should probably be finely sifted.  The main thing to remember is that when most pies start to set, they set fast.  Mine went from being runny to almost overdone in ~10 minutes. When the pie is done, it should puff up slightly at the edges, and you should be able to cut into the pie about 2" away from the crust and have it come out clean, but the center should still be a bit wobbly.  

As you can see, the pie set quickly, so I was testing it often.

Again, this pie wasn't bad.  It was all eaten and enjoyed, and if someone wants the recipe, I'd be glad to share it.  But I'm still looking for a recipe that is excellent rather than just good.  

I find with cooking, and especially baking, being a perfectionist usually pays off!