Pie Camp: The Skills You Need to Make Any Pie You Want

Book excerpt: The techniques and inspiration you need to achieve “pie confidence” at home. Readers fell in love with Kate McDermott and her story-filled cookbook, Art of the Pie. In this new book, McDermott takes her teaching to the next level. Here, she’s focused more on technique: how to decorate pastry with braided crusts, troubleshoot a custard that won’t set, create beautiful layered pies, and perfectly thicken your fruit filling. Once you have the foundations down, it’s time to mix and match crusts, fillings, and toppings. The dozen “master” recipes—from flaky to tender to cookie crumb crusts, and fruit to cream to chiffon pies—will become part of every pie maker’s repertoire and will open the door for bakers everywhere to conjure pies with self-assurance. There are gluten-free crust options for every pie, including Apple Ginger Maple Bourbon, Raspberry Peach Sunset Chiffon, Double Chocolate Banana... plus recipes for easy homemade ice cream and pie-lets for one or two. Gorgeous color photography by Andrew Scrivani brings Pie Camp to vivid life.