22 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST Ask the Expert into the bowl. Gently combine into a ball of dough after adding water. Roll out the dough with single strokes, rotate the disk 45º, and repeat. The amount of water you have to add to the pie crust will vary each time you make it. Factors like humidity and how much water clings to the shortening (if you measure using water displacement method) affect how much water you have to add to get the dough the right consistency. For the Montana Winter Fair, I did a mix of apples because each variety brings a different flavor, brings a different texture. That’s one of the secrets—don’t just use one type of apple. You get a more complex flavor and texture than if you just use one type of apple. You want to use baking-type apples, not Delicious or other eating-only apples. The year I won, my magic formula was: one Golden Delicious, one Granny Smith, two Jonathan, two Braeburn and a Fuji. Fresh spices. That’s the third key. The judges could tell if the spices had been sitting in my cabinet for three years versus freshly ground. I usually do buy whole spices and then I grind them periodically to fill my ground spice jar to get that more vibrant flavor. While it is fun to bake a pie that looks amazing with a fancy crust design, an “ugly” pie can be just as delicious and bring just as much joy to others. Don’t beat yourself up if your pie doesn’t come out looking “perfect.” —Mary Ellen Alu Carol (Cochrane) Kankelborg ’86 received her degree in electrical engineering. I try to encourage people that it truly is “as easy as pie” with a few simple rules. They shouldn’t be intimidated. I've been making pies since seventh grade. We lived in Bermuda, and my Home Ec(onomics) teacher—I have my notebook from back then; we had to write in fountain pen—would dictate the notes we had to take. Pie crust was one of the categories that we covered. And so that’s where I learned to make pie crust. A good pie crust is key. You want your ingredients cold when you start. I keep my shortening in the fridge, so when I want to make pie crust, it’s ready to go. The four ingredients are flour, shortening, salt and water. With the water, I put ice cubes in it to make sure it is as cold as possible. “Cold air has the capacity to expand more than warm air,” to quote my Home Ec notes. You want to use a light touch when you’re rubbing, or cutting in, the shortening because you don’t want to squeeze the air out of it; you don’t want to develop the gluten in the crust. I just use my hands. After adding the shortening, I cut it up into smaller pieces using a table knife. I then scoop up some of the flour-shortening mixture with both hands and rub my thumbs across my fingers to create fine crumbs of shortening coated in flour. Air is incorporated as the pieces fall back FOOD | ALUMNI ʼ86 Easy as Pie Expert pie-maker Carol (Cochrane) Kankelborg ’86 shares tips for making apple pie. Her credentials? Besides accolades from family and friends, she won first place in a pie bake-off at the Montana Winter Fair in 2002, the last time it was held in Bozeman, Montana. ILLUSTRATION BY KIM SALT SCAN TO GET CAROL'S AWARD-WINNING APPLE PIE RECIPE.
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