Strategies to Battle Soggy Pie Crusts With Epsom Salt

Completely the worst issue about baking a pie prematurely is knowing it’ll go soggy in an airtight container. Whether or not or not it’s just a few hours en path to Grandma’s residence or in a single day sooner than the holidays, there’s merely no method throughout the moisture of the filling slowly migrating in the direction of the crust. Nonetheless that doesn’t suggest we can’t throw a wrench inside the works.

Crucial Eats / Vicky Wasik


Means again, a buddy of mine taught me that magnesium sulfate, increased typically known as Epsom salt, will probably be dried out inside the oven to create a safe nevertheless extremely efficient desiccant. How extremely efficient? Correctly, just some cups can shrivel up a pint of latest raspberries in a matter of days, or flip a handful of sage proper right into a pile of crispy chips in a single day.

It’s spectacular, to verify, nevertheless the logistics of ground area and circulation make it pretty ineffective for drying any very important quantity of meals. Nonetheless for these of us a lot much less centered on dehydration than in merely combating humidity, it’s a surprisingly helpful software program. Even increased, it’s low value and simple to make at home. All you need is a quart of food-grade Epsom salt (no lavender or eucalyptus scents proper right here).

Merely pour it into an infinite brownie pan or rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment, and pop your complete factor proper right into a 400°F (200°C) oven, giving it a stir every quarter-hour or so, until the crystals are bone-dry, about 75 minutes full. Nonetheless waityou say. Will not be Epsom salt bone-dry to start out with? Certain and no. Epsom salt is the hydrous sort of magnesium sulfate, which suggests it really contains water inside its crystals.

As a result of it is warmed above 200°F, its sensible and semitranslucent crystals become damp as that water is launched, then an increasing number of opaque as they effloresce proper right into a chalky white powder—anhydrous magnesium sulfate.

That full course of can hypothetically be completed on the vary, nevertheless the character of direct heat means the Epsom salt would require fastened consideration. Inside the oven, it desires solely a quick stir once in a while to keep up clumping to a minimal.

As quickly as it’s bone-dry, change the rocky objects to an airtight container, like a roomy pie supplier, and shut the lid tight. You presumably can nestle a cooled pie in its plate straight on prime, or cowl the anhydrous magnesium sulfate with a sheet of cheesecloth sooner than placing small pastries on it—assume croissants, turnovers, or maybe a freeform peach pie. Whereas the anhydrous magnesium sulfate isn’t harmful to ingest, a cheesecloth barrier prevents it from getting onto whichever meals you might be drying out. Whatever the case, make sure the container is totally sealed, or else your DIY desiccant is likely to be contending with ambient humidity as properly.

I don’t suggest to advocate this system retains any pie or pastry as flaky and crisp as a result of the second it acquired right here out of the oven, nevertheless in side-by-side comparisons of cherry pies saved in containers with and with out this desiccant, it made a excellent distinction inside the texture of the crust. It’s the correct trick for safeguarding a make-ahead pie as latest as attainable for picnics and potlucks, nevertheless it is moreover useful for lots further. A thick layer of anhydrous magnesium sulfate inside the bottom of an airtight container could even go a good way in the direction of sustaining the crispness of candies much like toffee and peanut brittle in summer season months, and it does a bang-up job of drying small parts of latest flowers and herbs (for these of us inclined to utilize vibrant violets and mint as garnishes).

The best half is that anhydrous magnesium sulfate has no expiration date, so, whereas you will must bake it as soon as extra now and again to drive out the moisture it absorbs, it could be saved for repeated use.

August 2016

Bài viết liên quan