Customer Reviews

The Perfect Pie: More Than 125 All-Time Favorite Pies & Tarts

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had never made a pie before reading this book, but I was interested, so I picked up a copy. It has a lot of good recipes and advice for the price, and the sections in the beginning about the different ingredients and their roles in pie fillings and crusts were very helpful. I don't like just following the steps in a recipe. I really like to know what's going on in the bowl/pan, and her details really helped me get a feel for how the process of making a pie should work.

Sometimes it only takes one bad recipe to ruin a cookbook for me, and that's what happened with this one. Susan Purdy's apricot-walnut pie turned out to be a soggy, way oversweet mess, and I didn't use half the sugar she called for. I've been making pies a long time, and I had questions about this recipe from the get-go. Her crust recipes are good, however, although it's annoying that she never tells you, when adding an ingredient like wheat germ to a crust, whether said ingredient replaces part of the dry ingredients called for, or is added to them. Seems like a major oversight in a book that promises to clearly communicate pie recipes.

My grandmother used to make wonderful apple pies, and I loved them, and I wanted to learn how to do the same. This was the first book of several that I tried that really worked for me. The book is worth buying for the basic crust recipes alone, for which Purdy gives instructions for mixing by hand as well as with a food processor. I have baked several kinds of crust from this book, and each has been a hit -- tasty, flaky, wonderful. The mix-and-press-in-pan crust deserves a special mention. There are also several reduced-fat recipes. I appreciate Purdy's explanations of the purpose of each technique or ingredient, so that one knows exactly why the crust includes an egg yolk, and what to expect if one omits it. As far as fillings go, I have made the blueberry and various kinds of apple -- it was really the apple I was after -- and they were all super wonderful and devoured by my family and friends at top speed. I can't say much about the other filling recipes, other than mentioning that there are a lot of them, including all the standard ones, and they all seem delicious. I am keen to try the pear next. I should add that this book is restricted to sweet pies, you'll have to look elsewhere for savory recipes.

I highly recommend this book.

IF IT HAS A CRUST AND YOU CALL IT DESSERT, SUSAN G. PURDY PRESENTS IT TO YOU IN THIS COOK BOOK. SHE DISPLAYS HER ENCYCLOPEDIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT PIES IN LOGICAL PIE-MAKING ORDER AND USES A FRIENDLY CONVERSATIONAL TONE THROUGHOUT THE BOOK. FROM CRUSTS TO GLAZES TO GREEN TOMATOE OR LEMON MERINGUE PIE, YOU WANT MAKE IT!

The baking tips alone are enough to recommend this book, not to mention the recipes themselves.
Great gift for the pie dough novice and the experienced baker.

I have only tried the Lemon Meringue recipe but it is to die for--and I'm not even Lemon Meringue pie fan! She included with it the No-Fail Meringue recipe, which is great--as long as you don't overbeat the meringue like I did the first time.

She also included Ruth Lawrence's Blackberry Pie recipe, which is in her other pie book. Don't try any other--it's marvelous!

She adds a lot of variations, which can be a bit confusing. Some of them should have been recipes on their own.

There are no photos, so some people will never like this book.

There are so many good-looking recipes, I could be kept busy making a pie most every day!

I have favorites from other sources, so I can't say this book is perfect, but it's pretty darn good and worth having if you love to bake pies.

Each section provides a detailed tutorial followed by a variety of recipes. There are a wide number of crusts and fillings available to suit any need or occasion.