Here are pages 21, 22 and 23 of the vintage recipe booklet “Good Pies & How To Make Them” that was published in 1928 by Crisco.

To review all pages in this booklet, simply visit the Crisco: Good Pies & How To Make Them Category and click on a page title to review that section.

There are scans available of each page, just click the images to view a full size copy.

Difficulties Sometimes Encountered with Fillings

Liquefication: As we previously pointed out, starch has a tendency to liquefy when it comes in contact with acids. This tendency is most pronounced at temperatures of around 150° F., so batches of starch-thickened pie-filling should be cooled rapidly.

Sometimes we hear of plants where this has been a serious problem. They make up starch-thickened fillings in large amounts and set them aside to cool. The outside cools more rapidly and sets up (or thickens partially); the inside of the mass of filling remains hot and the starch begins to turn into sugar. The result is a filling that is lumpy around the edge of the container and very soft and runny in the center. It will not mix into a uniformly smooth mass and is a loss.

Unclean storage containers, too, may contribute to liquefication. Buckets or cans used to cool and hold pie fillings must be kept scrupulously clean and free from bacteria. Harmful bacteria are always present in the air; should they lodge in unclean containers, their growth is generally rapid. If you were to place warm fillings in containers so contaminated, doubtless fermentation would set in and the fillings liquefy.

The best way to handle large quantities of filling is to divide the batch into numerous small containers that are clean and sterile. In these small containers the fillings will cool rapidly. Stir them frequently while they cool so that they will be uniform in consistency throughout.

Handling of Custards: There are many bakers who never make custard pies. Customers must content themselves with pies with cream fillings. On the other hand, there are bakers who turn out custard pies that seem to have a heavy, pasty sediment over the bottom crust.

In either event the housewife who wants a good custard pie is sure to be disappointed in the baker’s pies.

Eggs are used in custard pies for their nutritive value and thickening properties, of course. But they are needed, too, to hold the starch in the filling in suspension, until it becomes gelatinized by the heat of the oven. If too few eggs are used for this purpose, more starch is needed for the thickening; a less stable suspension results; settling is bound to occur.

The remedy for this, naturally, is more eggs and less starch. If cost prohibits this, you will find the following method satisfactory: Place the eggs, flavoring and half the sugar in a bowl and mix well. Add half the milk and stir in. Suspend the starch in some of the remaining milk. Bring the rest of the milk and the balance of the sugar to a boil. Then thicken it with the starch and milk mixture. Cool this immediately; then pour it into the first mixture and whip vigorously to incorporate all of the ingredients.

Bake in a heat of not less than 400° F. The baking of custards calls for care: Over-baking results in a curdling of the milk and eggs. If the custard is under-baked, milk will be found in the center.

Custard pies are filled in the oven. They are filled with a dipper made for the purpose–a dipper to which long handle is attached. After placing the pie-bottoms in the oven, it is advisable to put just a little custard in them to check their tendency to blister.

Soaking of Bottom Crusts: Even when it is not serious enough to be a real difficulty, pie-fillings do have a tendency to soak into bottom crusts. These are a few of the reasons for the trouble; they may be easily be corrected:

1. Under-baking
2. Sweating in the pan when the pie is baked moderately
3. Fillings too soft
4. Too much baking powder
5. Too much sugar in dough
6. Differences in flour

The remedies for these conditions are fairly obvious and are easily made.

In connection with point 6 it may be well to repeat the statement made on page 4 of this book: “Find the kind of flour that gives you the results you want, and stick to it.”

Boiling Over: Some starches when boiled with fruit juice readily gelatinize and immediately absorb a large amount of moisture. Others go through a period of vigorous boiling before taking up their maximum amount of liquid. The pie baker is interested in these effects, for they determine whether his pie will boil over in the oven or will retain the full amount of thickened syrup.

Under some conditions you can control boiling by baking temperature. A pie baked a relatively long time in a slow oven will tend to stew and boil over much more than a pie placed in a heat that will bake it in about 25 minutes.

Again, the type of filling often influences the boiling over; the proportion of thickener and liquid generally has a bearing on the rate of boiling.

Of the starches commonly used for thickeners, cornstarch has the less tendency to cause vigorous boiling. Of the prepared thickeners used without pre-heating, some will not boil over at all even when baked under adverse conditions; others will boil excessively, though baked in ideal heat.