Pie #2: All Strawberry Pie

I have finally figured out how I am going to choose the order of pies I will cook in this book. Ken Haedrich has broken the “Pie” book into 10 different categories of pies and I am going to do the first pie from each category and then repeat categories doing each pie in sequential order.
That being said, I introduce you to the All Strawberry Pie from the “Berry Good Pies” category. Let me tell you, that is a great name for this category of pies because they do sound berry berry good!
Upon reading the recipe I found that this particular pie calls for “mint oil”. Yeah, um, do you know what that is? I sure didn’t, so I went to the store assuming I could just buy it. To my surprise and disappointment you could not. I had to make it. So, here I am an hour before I even start the crust (that has to set for an hour) and I am making mint oil. “How?”, you ask. Well, I put some water in a big pot and then put a small metal bowl in the pot with chopped mint and olive oil. Once brought to a boil I turned down the heat and let it simmer for about an hour. Then I drained the oil and strained the mint, and there you have it, mint oil.

Now, with the mint oil out of the way, on to the dough, only this time I have to make a double crust! I used my food processer this time and it worked great. It was much quicker, but I had to work faster with the dough. The bottom crust turned out great, but while making the top crust I tried to roll it out on wax paper (I now would not suggest that) and it stuck like glue. So while I was trying to put on the top crust it fell apart, luckily I saved it with some quick thinking and cold water. I also used the slicer blade on my processer and the strawberries turned out great, it looks like a pro did it if you ask me.

So the filling smelled and tasted great, even before I put it in the oven to bake. Before I put the top crust on I used my new Pie Vent Bird and it worked out great. Oh, a pie bird is something you put in the middle of the bottom crust, fill in the pie, and put the top crust on around it to create a hole to allow for the air to vent out of the bird instead of the crust, which can cause cracks and spill over. I loved the way it worked!

As I was putting the finishing touches on the crust before putting it in the oven, it has you sprinkle the sugar around the crust and then, get ready for this, sprinkle milk on it. So can you tell me how to sprinkle milk? I had no idea, so I improvised by using a basting brush to fling milk on the pie. Fun! “I fling milk!”
Oh, my first injury of the pie journey is a nice big burn on my arm! This happened as I was turning the pie in the oven, per instructions... Ouch! It hurt.

The crust turned out great! We had to wait for a while for it to cool down. It suggested that you wait for 2 hours, so it was done at 9pm and we’ll need to wait till 11pm for it to set completely. Here is the final product.

Hello Results: Food processor is working out great! Don’t use wax paper. Watch your arm when you turn the pie, or pull out the oven rack first and then turn! We didn’t wait the whole two hours and it didn’t set completely, so I need to have patience and let it set long enough. But it tastes awesome, and the mint adds an interesting twist on the flavor! Two pies down, 298 to go.