During a 10-year career at some of Chicago’s top restaurants (including one of our all-time favorites, the late, lamented Trio in Evanston), Paula created sophisticated desserts for demanding foodies.

But on her days off, she wanted a simple, satisfying piece of pie—the kind her Hoosier aunts learned to bake on the farm. She took a summer off, taught herself how to make great crust (practice! practice! practice!) and ultimately opened the Hoosier Mama Pie Company.

Here are two tips, and you can purchase The Hoosier Mama Book Of Pie for many more.

BONUS: There’s an excellent amount of the book free online, in the “Look Inside” feature on Amazon.com. Check out the chapter, “Lessons From The Rolling Table
The Making, Rolling And Handling Of Pie Dough.”

TIP: BLIND BAKING PIE SHELLS

Blind baking is the term for prebaking a pie shell prior to adding the filling. The trick is to weigh down the crust to avoid air bubbles from forming.

Nothing works better for blind baking a pie shell than a large coffee filter (basket style) filled with dried beans. The filter fits perfectly into a 9″ pie shell, and the beans can be re-used many times.

TIP: AVOIDING SOGGY BOTTOM FRUIT PIES

Along with starting out with a good hot oven to set the crust, dust the bottom of the crust with a 50/50 mixture of flour and sugar. Paula refers to this as “crust dust,” and uses it with every fruit pie.

MEDITATIONS ON PIE

Paula has also assembled a fun collection of pie quotes. Head to the Hoosier Mama Pie website for quotes like these.

He was as normal as pumpkin pie and now look at him.

—Elderly Neighbor in “Breaking Away” by Steve Tesich