Hello, I’m Marty Richardson from chefmartyrich.com.  Welcome back to our daily tip series.  Today is the last in our series of “Entertaining and Menu Planning Ideas for Thanksgiving”.  I lost count of days and I have run out of time because tomorrow is Thanksgiving!

Easy As Pie?

The topic today is pie dough.  I had several calls on the 30 minute Free Consultation recently and they have all been about problems with pie dough.  So that is why I am going to wrap up this series with that topic.

Five Step Process

Making pie dough is an easy 5 step process.  First, in order to cut the fat into the flour, use a food processor, if you have it.  When you do this by hand, your fingers tend to melt the fat.  You don’t want that to happen.  You actually want the flour to coat cold pieces of the fat.  Large sized pieces (meaning pea size) are necessary to give your pie dough flaky crust. The really tiny pieces of fat wrapped in flour, ensure your dough is tender, that is, fork tender.  That is where the expression comes from.

Minimal Water

The second tip is to add your water slowly.  We are only talking about a total of few tablespoons here, so add a couple of tablespoons at first, sprinkling it around the edges of the bowl.  The key is to use as little water as you possibly can.  Too much water makes a tough crust.  And by tough, I mean that kind of pie that you can cut through the filling, but you can’t get your fork through the bottom crust without a jack hammer… that’s a tough crust!

Handle Lightly

Number three, use a fork to pull the moist flour that you just watered from around the edges towards the center.  This is not a dough you stir with a wooden spoon.  This is not the type of dough you turn out on the counter and knead.  That is bread dough.  Pie dough needs a really light hand to make a really light crust, otherwise you will get a tough dough.

How Much Water?

Four, you want to take some of the dough and squeeze it in your hand to make a ball.  If the dough doesn’t stick together, you don’t have enough water.  If it does, stop adding water at that point.

Relaxing Dough

Number five.  Refrigerate the dough.  You pat it all together into a disc or a ball, whichever is more convenient.  A disc is easier to roll out once it has chilled.  Wrap it in plastic wrap.  Put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Take it out.  It is much easier to roll cold dough.  Flour your counter or surface very lightly.  If you add too much more flour at this point, it is also going to make your dough tough.  Once you have rolled out the dough and put it into the pie plate, put the pie plate and dough back into the refrigerator for another 30 to 60 minutes.  That is going to help relax the dough so it doesn’t shrink when you bake it.  That is one of the problems raised during a 30 minute consultation.

Solving Thanksgiving Cooking Crises

I was going to give out the number for the turkey hotline.  I haven’t done that so I am going to do that now.  The Butterball hotline is 1-800-288-8372.  The USDA Poultry and Meat hotline is 1-800-535-4555.

Tip Series Review

I just wanted to go through a quick recap.  We did 45, 46, 47 different videos in the last month and a half, so I wanted to do a quick review for you to give you the highlights.

1.    Choose simple store bought appetizers.  This is not the main event.  This is just something for people to nibble on to try and take the pressure off of you and the edge off their hunger.  Don’t be afraid to use pre-made appetizers.

2.    Brine your turkey.  It is going to help by keeping the breast moist and adding flavor.

3.    Choose lots of side dishes.  It is going to give more people more things to choose from.  Keep your eye on textures, colors and flavors.  Variety is the spice of life.

4.    Do not stuff your turkey.  Make dressing.  Mix up the stuffing.  Put it in a casserole dish.  Bake it separately.  You will have much more “crunchy bits” that most people really enjoy.

5.    The next important tip is 165 degrees (using an instant read thermometer) is the magic number.  Remember it.  This is the temperature at which the turkey is done cooking and also for making sure that your stuffing is done (all harmful bacteria are killed) and for checking reheated leftovers.  All should reach 165 degrees.

6.    You want to make your desserts (today!) ahead of time.  Don’t wait until Thanksgiving Day to start making desserts.  This is an easy way to get your “finale” out of the way. Preparing appetizers, main course and desserts in the same day is an un-necessary challenge.

7.    “Pre-Party Planning Prevents Panic”.  But, it also ensures you will have room in your oven to make dinner rolls.  Please do.  I’m telling you, if you make fresh rolls, they will be the hit of your meal.  So figure out how to squeeze it in there.

8.    Consider Your time, Your budget, Your skill level, Your guests, and Your kitchen so you can plan on enjoying your day.

9.    Lastly, eat or freeze all of your leftovers before Monday.  Don’t have your leftovers hanging out into next week.  It is just not safe to continue serving dishes that have been sitting out on the dining room table or buffet for hours on Thanksgiving.

Thanks very much.  I’m glad that you watched.  I hope you got some good ideas and tips out of this series.  If you have ideas or themes for a future series, please go to the website and leave a comment.  I look forward to shooting the next series.  Thanks very much for watching.  Bye.  Have a great Thanksgiving!