Learning 2 Bake from Scratch – LXX.V

Navel Merrang Pie

The Mandarin Merrang Pie had three problems: Soggy crust, meh filling, and sticky merrang. Since today is crochet group day, I got up early to make another attempt.

To address the problems: Par bake the crust until golden brown, use navel oranges instead of mandarins, and bake it longer to dry out the merrang.

The crust isn’t exactly soggy, but kind-of, almost caramelized and gooey. Last night, I used less water (and measured: 70 grams). The dough texture this morning was much better; about perfect for pie crust, which is “too dry” for almost anything else. I par baked it at 375 for 15 minutes with pie weights (aka beans) then in 5 minute increments until I thought it done enough, which was another 15 minutes. I think that’s too long. It’s not burned – not even all that brown – but it’s over-cooked. Next time, 425 for 10 minutes with weights and hopefully just 5 without.

The filling is excellent. I also tweaked the recipe to be 1 1/3 cups orange juice with a 1/2 cup of water, rather than the reverse (it is a lemon merrang recipe); all the zest from the three oranges it took to get 1 1/3 cups of juice, rather than 1 tablespoon; and 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid (I’ve forgotten the dilution ratio, but it’s sour). Next time, no change.

The merrang is soggy and collapsed, although it tastes fine. Based on the Pavlova (low and slow), I baked the pie at 300 for almost an hour. That clearly didn’t work. I guess hotter (much cooler and the water will not boil out). I opened the oven door to let the 375 cool down to 300 before adding the pie. Next time, I think I’ll try turning the oven down to 350, but tossing the pie right into the 425 oven. The filling is already cooked, so it’s really about baking the merrang. 15 minutes will probably do it (the oven may not even cool to 350 in that time).

It wasn’t embarrassingly bad (neither was the first attempt), but it could be better. Tomorrow (Friday) is another dance night. Since they had the first one, I could make another for comparison. We’ll see if I feel like making the crust dough, tonight.