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Household Tips: Tips for Making the Perfect Pie Crust

January 28, 2013 by Robin 22 Comments

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I’m having so much fun learning about how my grandmother adapted during WWII. Things that we take for granted today: food availability, over-the-counter medicines, household cleaners, they were not as easy to come by then. People, especially women during this time, created some clever household tips to get around the limited availability of certain products and services. During WWII my grandmother began creating a notebook with little tips and tricks to get around these problems.

This series “Household Tips & Tricks from WWII” is my families attempt at recreating my grandmother’s notebook. If you read last weeks post Grandma’s Ink Remover you know that the notebook was loaned out years ago and never returned. This little recreation venture started out with me and my mother just jotting down things that we remembered. Over the last few weeks, our family got wind of what we were doing and now everyone is contributing to the notebook. It is so fascinating not only to hear the tips and tricks that they remember but also the stories and memories that they have. This is such a wonderful way to honor my grandmother’s memory.

One of the things that my mother shared with me was that they would only serve meat once a week, it was usually served on Sunday’s. The rest of the week they would try to stretch out what was left over from their Sunday dinner or eat things like creamed peas on toast. My kids and husband wouldn’t have survived, if there isn’t meat on their dinner plate they feel like they’ve been cheated some how.

This week I want to share with you some of grandma’s tips for making pie. Pie seems to have been a big part of the WWII diet in my grandma’s home. Several of my aunts and my mom shared with me how wonderful my grandma was at making pies. They each shared their favorite pie recipe as well as tips that made her pie crusts so good. Today is all about the crust I’ll be sharing her pie recipes in future posts.

 

** If, by some small miracle, you worked at Amway in Ada, MI and were the person my mother loaned the notebook to, please contact me. The notebook is a small (approx 6×9), black, 3-ring binder, and contains hand drawn patterns (teddy bear), recipes, tips and tricks. It would mean so much to my family to have it back.

 

Filed Under: Cooking Tips & Tricks, Food Tagged With: how to, two cents'

Comments

  1. Reduce, Reuse, Renewed says

    January 29, 2013 at 2:10 am

    I love making pies! Good to know about the crunchy crust and beaten egg. My favorite crust recipe asks for ice cold water…now I know how to make my crust less gooey in the center. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Fluster Buster says

      January 30, 2013 at 3:35 pm

      I haven't personally tried it yet, but my mom and my aunts swear that it works. I'm planning on trying it this weekend.

      Reply
      • Beth says

        October 31, 2019 at 5:14 pm

        My mother could make a pie in a minute. She did everything that is in the list Brings back so many memories

        Reply
      • Marko says

        December 4, 2020 at 11:29 pm

        I tried it for my cherry pie on Thanksgiving and it worked like a charm..Really the 1st time my pie’s bottom crust wasn’t soggy. Now I will start making pies more often than maybe once a year.

        Reply
        • Robin says

          December 5, 2020 at 7:17 pm

          I so happy that I could help. Another thing you can do to make your crust crispy and flakey is to use chilled vodka instead of water. The vodka evaporates faster than water.

          Reply
  2. amy mayen says

    January 30, 2013 at 2:39 pm

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Fluster Buster says

      January 30, 2013 at 3:35 pm

      I'm glad that you liked it Amy!

      Reply
  3. Emily says

    January 30, 2013 at 5:46 pm

    I like the tip about not washing the rolling pin. The pin that I have was my grandmothers – she purchased it from a yard sale for 59 cents! It's super heavy and rolls out crust perfectly. But I do wonder if not washing it would improve it's functionality even more.

    Thanks for linking up with this week's Whip it Up Wednesday linky party!

    Reply
  4. Leslie Stewart says

    January 30, 2013 at 10:58 pm

    Thanks so much for sharing these great tips at my Twirl & Take a Bow Party! Have a great week.
    Leslie
    House on the Way

    Reply
  5. Molly says

    January 31, 2013 at 4:03 pm

    Great tip… then and now

    Mollyxxx

    Reply
  6. Diana - FreeStyleMama says

    February 1, 2013 at 2:59 am

    Great tips!

    Reply
  7. Desiree @ Shoppe Dezi Lu says

    February 1, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    Thanks so much for sharing these great tips. I'm usually so intimidated with the whole process that I end up with store-bought, frozen pie crusts. I will definitely be giving this a try! – Dez 🙂

    Reply
  8. Julia P F says

    February 1, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    Try using vodka instead of water. The alcohol evaporates, making the crust even flakier. A word of caution: do not eat the unbaked dough… Gross! Visiting from Friday chaos

    Reply
  9. Katherines Corner says

    February 1, 2013 at 11:39 pm

    I love this feature you are doing.The powder puff tip made me giggle.Hugs and thank you for sharing at Thursday Favorite Things 🙂 P.S. The new giveaway started today!

    Reply
  10. [email protected] says

    February 3, 2013 at 10:56 am

    My grandmother always did the scrape off the rolling pin trick — it was a no-no to wash it! Thanks so much for sharing on Busy Monday!

    Reply
  11. Betsy @ Romance on a dime says

    February 4, 2013 at 12:52 am

    Great tips!! I do just scrape off the rolling pin trick already. It's great! Thanks for linking up at Romance on a dime!!

    Reply
  12. Christine says

    February 4, 2013 at 4:34 pm

    WOW!!! Amazing tips!!! I will try them!!

    Thanks for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer… From Dream To Reality! Can't wait to see what you link up tomorrow evening!

    Reply
  13. Stacey says

    February 5, 2013 at 2:52 am

    Great tips!
    Thanks for linking up this week!
    Stacey of Embracing Change

    Reply
  14. Jann Olson says

    February 6, 2013 at 3:09 am

    Great tips! Some I have heard, some not! Pinning to try next time I make pie. Thanks for sharing with Share Your Cup.
    hugs,
    Jann

    Reply
  15. Queen of the Castle says

    February 6, 2013 at 6:56 pm

    Thanks for the tips. I hope that you get the notebook back some day!

    Reply
  16. Linda Harmstead says

    March 28, 2017 at 7:19 am

    Love reading your blog; I get so many fantastic ideas~some known some I’ve never heard of! Not bragging but, I am a fantastic cook, so I’ve been told and I can’t bake a boxed cake! However, I’ve gotten the courage to start baking pies~having a bit of a challenge with the crust! My grandma was a baker, my mom made the best, best, pie crust, my daughter is a fantastic baker and I can’t make a boxed cake❣ What’s up with me?

    Reply
    • Robin says

      March 28, 2017 at 11:34 am

      Don’t be discouraged, I think pie crust is one of the hardest things to perfect, the key is to never let the crust get warm.

      Reply

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