For those of you who missed it, I recently wrote an article for Fine Cooking magazine that began like so: This might ruffle some feathers, but I have a bone to pick with whoever coined the expression “as easy as pie.” As a pie instructor, the author of four pie cookbooks, and the dean of […]

I’d like to talk about pie pans this week, but I totally understand if you’re thinking we should have had this conversation about a month ago, when you were carrying around wads of holiday cash, and everyone you know was asking what you wanted for Christmas. Now you’re stuck with that deluxe 10-pack of herbal-scented […]

This past week I put out the word that I was curious to learn more about your apple prepping routine when you make an apple pie. I wanted to know if you peeled your apples or not, sliced them thick or thin, how you cored them – all that good stuff. And you didn’t disappoint. […]

  Blind baking – or baking your pie shell before the filling goes into the crust – is one of the most confusing and conflicting issues pie makers face. I know this because as Dean of The Pie Academy I get a ton of emails on the subject and they’re not, typically, about how well […]

In last week’s video, I asked you to send me your thoughts about the one thing you’d like to see more of at The Pie Academy. Hundreds of you did. It probably didn’t hurt matters that – as I mentioned – everyone who responded would go into a drawing for three great prizes. I’ve announced […]

I’m a lousy shopper – too impatient, for one thing – but I had a few minutes to kill last week while my oil was being changed, so I walked into the nearby Target, which I thought would look a lot more respectable than walking into the brew pub next door, especially given the fact […]

Since becoming the Ann Landers of pie, a fellow whose virtual doorstep is stacked high with assorted pie baggage and tales of woe from home bakers around the globe, I’m spending a good deal of time answering individual emails from Pie Academy members. I like this. I really do. It’s a chance to get to […]

Keep Your Pie Filling Where It Belongs with This One Simple Trick. You know how pie recipes often ask you to partially prebake the crust – mine certainly do – when you’re making custard, pumpkin, and other pies with runny fillings? When it’s necessary, prebaking is an excellent idea. But in the process you wind […]

Have you ever heard of a floating top pie? Even if you haven’t, you’ve probably seen one before: it’s a pie whose crust just “floats” on top of the filling without being anchored or attached to the sides. It makes for a very pretty pie and in the short video above you’ll see just how […]

The PiePhone Diaries is an occasional feature here, an iPhone photo journal accompanied by a few words of possible interest – or possibly not – to pie aficionados and other home cooks. Like most men, I would rather have teeth pulled than go shopping. Taking me shopping – my wife learned long ago – is […]