Graham flour pie crust
Just curious...has anyone ever tried to make a pie crust using a good proportion of Graham flour? I'm well-aware of the millions of recipes for making pie-crusts using "Graham crackers", but here in Japan, that's really a major expense. Making my own Graham crackers, first, would be many times cheaper than buying them, but that's going to take so much time that the over-priced crackers (over US $8:00 per box!) might be a bargain, if they were readily available...
I tried a google "advanced search" for graham flour pie crusts with "graham cracker" excluded and, on the entire English-language part of the internet, there were no results...
Can anyone steer me to the right information, or do I have to invent this recipe for myself?
Any insights would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
copyu
copyu, here is a recipe from Alton Brown that looks like it would work. I Googled graham cracker recipes and just one exact hit.
Eric
Web search hits. Have not personally tried:
http://mikes-table.themulligans.org/2008/06/18/graham-cracker-pie-crust/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4518225_easy-graham-cracker-crust.html
Sure to be others. Good luck.
I have a number of recipes for Graham crackers, but the links are much appreciated.
That one from "e-How" looks just the ticket!
Most recipes suggest bashing 'pre-made' Graham crackers into crumbs, which seemed nonsensical to me as they're so troublesome to make and so expensive to buy, here.
That one from e-How is going into my files right now!
Thanks again!
copyu
a graham flour recipe. I made a crust from millet once. Posted it here:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/859/amaranth-or-millet-anyone-experience#comment-47022
or drain all the excess water away, then combine with oil or fat, spices and pinch of salt depending on the recipe and press the crumbs evenly into a pie pan.
If the flour is fine like flour implies, I would skip the soak and just use butter or lard cutting it in to form crumbs, keep on the dry side (no water, maybe a shot of alcohol) and press into a pie pan.
Whatcha gonna put on top of it?
...but I wouldn't have thought about soaking. Good idea! I have the 'real' Graham flour, which is somewhat coarser than regular wholemeal.
The eHow recipe suggests mixing wholemeal and AP. I've discovered that most Graham cracker recipes, even commercial ones, don't use any Graham flour at all!
I need to use this stuff fairly quickly as it has a much shorter shelf life than regular wholemeal. (I'm storing it in the fridge with my 'atta'.)
Blueberry, with a 'Streusel' topping, cherry with a flaky pastry lattice top and apple pies (if I can get the right apples) are all on the cards over the next few weeks...
Thank you, Mini!
copyu
I would try just making one little pie, in a custard bowl to see how you like the texture.
If you're looking to make a graham cracker crust, then I would use cake/cookie crumbs and add the needed cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to taste. Butter and sugar holds the crumbs together (short bake and cool) and then the pre-cooked filling is added and allowed to set.
If you add very wet ingredients and bake, you might prefer a more conventional crust instead of a crumb crust.
I was at Feeding America looking in the 1904 Creole cookbook and found the Graham recipe on page 55. It makes a dough using a water roux method and then cut out shapes for a very hot oven. I think the description of "one inch thick" sounds more like a scone. I would scale it down to try. I would also try with milk first. I know it's not a pie, but it might be an interesting method for making a roll out crust. This is listed in the English section, there is a French section too.
I certainly love 'older' recipes.
There's a lot of food for thought in your post, Mini.
Thanks very much for the trouble you've been to...I'm going to try the eHow pastry, jigged a little bit and pre-bake it minimally, as I'll be doing a fairly traditional "American" cherry pie first.
The filling ingredients will be either: some 'Michigan' brand canned sour cherries; or preserved sour, black European cherries; a drop or two of almond oil (essence?); some sugar and a spoonful of flour, cooked until thickened almost like jam; dotted with butter; a simple short-crust or flaky pastry top will round it off. I'll let you know how it goes and post the recipe variations, if it turns out OK!
Cheers, Mini (and thanks to all),
copyu