What am I doing wrong this time?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had success the first time attempting something, only to find that the second attempt was somehow not as easy as the first.
Well, honestly, I have baked many pies in the past that have turned out awesome.  I'll have to confess there was a period of time when I cheated and bought frozen pie crust from the grocery store.  As with most people it made for a quick easy task of baking a "home-made" pie.  I then tasted a friend of mine's mother's peach pie and was in awe of the crust!
Since then, I've always attempted to make my crust from scratch.  Like I said, my pies have come out good for the most part.  Then, my husband introduced me to an Amish recipe last summer that was totally different from any recipe that I've seen before, calling for vegetable oil and milk.  It was the best pie crust I've ever made!

Since I've decided to go with Pies as my signature baked item; I've also decided to do as much research and study on pies and pastry I can so, I can create the best pie my family, friends, and potential clients have ever tasted.

In my last post I talked about my successful first attempt at baking mini pies.  The two biggest take-a-ways from my first mini pie attempt was; one, the pies need a nice finished look, like with a sprinkling of sugar crystals.  And two, the filling could have been a tad less tart and a little sweeter.

Well, my second attempt at mini pies did not pan out quite as I hoped.  My dough kept sticking!!

All of these thoughts are racing through my mind as I just want to get this done (after all I only have so much time in between feedings for my little new born).

1. "Duh, Why am I not using the silicone matte?" - Dough continues to stick to rolling pin
2. "Wax paper!"
3.  "I should just give up, Adler will love playing with this dough."
4.  "No, I'm not giving up, iIve done this countless times before."
5.  "Maybe it's too hot in here, I am starting to sweat."
6. "Double wax paper (which I've never had to do before)"

After over an hour of rolling and re-rolling, and freezing and refrigerating, and breaking into a sweat.  I realized that if I lift the dough after every other stroke or so, and turn it clockwise a little each time the dough wouldn't stick to the wax paper.  Finally, I was able to get the dough large enough that I decided to just go for one large pie.  The pie was completed and tasted good.  However, of course the crust was not the consistency that I wanted.  On the other hand, I used a little less lemon and did a combination of white and brown sugar that created a tasty, not too sweet, not too tart apple filling.  Next, is to perfect the crust; I want a flaky, melt in your mouth kind.

I did decide to do a little research in ways of rolling out dough and how to prevent sticking; so, in the future I don't break into a sweat again.  Also, I felt like using wax paper was somehow cheating.

A few tips I've encountered were:

- Chill dough (I already knew that)
- Chill counter top (using ice-packs)
- Use powered sugar or cornstarch instead of flour to dust work surface

Here are a couple of really helpful articles...

Let them eat pie...
How to roll..

My next post I will discuss the different kinds of pastry; I think I might actually hold a taste test to compare all butter vs. butter and shortening vs. butter and lard, etc.

Till then...

Jerrie