Pie HQ from The Gourmandise School
Welcome to Pie HQ at The Gourmandise School – your guide to pie perfection! Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned baker, we have resources, classes, and tips you need to create pies that impress. From essential techniques like crimping and blind baking to our signature pie dough recipes, including Evan Kleiman’s famous 3-2-1 crust and a wholesome whole-grain option, you’ll find all the tips and tricks for a flawless crust. Dive into a delicious selection of recipes like our classic Pumpkin Pie, indulgent Brown Sugar Pecan Pie, and unique twists like Leftover Squash Pie and Apple Galette. Pie HQ is here to make your holiday (and every day) baking a breeze – let’s bake some joy together!
This is our go-to dough for making all pies, from Apple to Quiche and Cheery Cherry. The recipe shows you how to keep your butter cold and resist overworking. You will end up with a dough that is easy to roll, studded with butter, and rival pastry shops.
No one ever said crimping was easy, but like most things, practice makes perfect. Here are a few tips to help you as you improve your pretty pie skills. Relax. Chill. Shake it out. Your pie will be perfect!
Making pie dough is deceptively easy, but finding the balance between controlled chaos (flakiness) and uniformity without overworking the dough takes either naivety or letting go of all the garbage you’ve heard and in blog posts as long as the Sunday Times.
Blind baking is really nothing more than letting the pie crust bake for a little while on its own before you add the filling. It’s an easy process — especially once you know a few key steps.
Whole wheat flour gives this flaky crust an extra layer of tenderness, along with a nutty, toasted aroma reminiscent of fresh whole wheat bread. Its hearty texture makes it an ideal match for savory or sweet fillings.
The simplicity of a free-form, open-faced, no-tin pie called a galette makes for the sweetest, easiest dessert to pull together with leftover dough and a few apples. All you need to make this sheet pan pie is a large bowl, your hands, a rolling pin, and a cookie sheet.
Relax, it’s just pie. Follow our master pie crust recipe and blind bake it as you do for Pumpkin Pie, then make the easiest pie filling there ever was. Go!
It’s 6pm on Black Friday. You have one pie crust, a serving bowl of leftover pureed squash in the fridge, and a half-cup grated parmesan. You are hungry, and you don’t want to gnaw on another turkey leg. Perfect. Make this pie.
It’s pretty straightforward: pumpkin pie should be silky, smooth, and all together custardy. We’ve updated this classic with a trick to bring out the butterscotch notes in the brown sugar.
This pie is for lovers of the original pecan pie. There’s not a lick of corn syrup in our version; we sweetened this custard pie with a generous helping of brown sugar and set it to silky perfection with butter, cream, and yolks.
We run a pretty tight ship here at the school, but sometimes the math goes wrong, and we end up with a lot of extra something-or-other (in this instance, a case -or two- of apples). Bake this until crumbly and golden brown.
This classic fruit cobbler recipe is a “drop biscuit” and the worse it looks, the better it tastes. So mix it just enough for the flour to disappear. Ditch the run to the store to buy a ramekin and bake these in anything oven-safe: a mason jar, a mug, or a roasting pan. Use whatever fruit is in season or frozen, the riper the better.
UPCOMING PIE CLASSES
Pie Class
The Pie Class: Bake & Take Thanksgiving Pies
Sunday, November 22
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Pie Class
15th Annual Bake & Take: Thanksgiving Pies
Wednesday, November 25
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Pie Class
The Pie Class: Bake & Take Winter Pies
Sunday, December 13
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Cancellations & Transfers: We purchase and prepare fresh ingredients for every student, so we cannot offer refunds; no exceptions. However, we are happy to provide a full Class Credit if you cancel at least 48 hours before your class.
Can’t make it last minute? We understand things happen. While we cannot issue credits for cancellations made less than 48 hours before class, including for illness or schedule conflicts, you may transfer your spot to a guest. Simply call or email us with your guest’s name before class. Your guest must meet the minimum age requirement for the class.