Learning 2 Bake from Scratch – XXXX

Lime Merrang

I had two goals: A crispier crust and non-collapsing merrang (I’m starting a trend, not misspelling).

The plan was to use the leftover crust dough from the Lemon Merrang, but it was already dry and dried out even more in the refrigerator. I made a new 2/3 batch of crust. Yay, metric system! Yes, I know that 2/3s of a 1/2 cup is 5 Tbl + 1 tsp, but how annoying is that?

I was short on butter, so I used about 2/3 butter, 1/3 crisco. It’s too warm for pie crust; it was turning into mush while I rolled it out. Nonetheless, it was better because I par-baked it until it was almost done. There’s something strange about glass pie plates. I know glass heats slower, so I turned the oven up (400) and baked a bit long (~18 minutes). It was the second bake with the filling inside: The crust didn’t darken – at all. I think another 5 minutes would have been fine.

As you can see, it poofed up nicely. That didn’t last. It collapsed and started weeping almost immediately. Did I mention it’s too warm for pie crust? I think it’s also too humid for merrang – but given the lack of crust browning, I think a slightly cooler oven (it was 350) for about 10 minutes longer might dry it out more.

Something to try, next time, whenever that might be.

The taste-testers thought it was excellent. The lime custard (same as the lemon, just swapped citrus) was tart. The crust was flakey. They even liked the collapsed merrang and asked for a plain merrang pie. Next up: Pavlova!