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Yesterday, Chow Bella got to know Traci Wilbur and her local bakery, Pie Snob. The pie business keeps Traci hopping with deliveries to local cafes and custom orders,including a recent pie social where Traci turned out 27 pies.
When asked about the logistics of making so many pies at once, Traci explains that it doesn’t really take long, once she gets into a rhythm.
Luckily, Traci agreed to slow the dance down a bit and offer a lesson on how to whip up the perfect meringue crust.
To get a good meringue, Traci recommends starting with a metal bowl wiped down with a small amount of lemon juice.
To prevent the meringue from weeping, a problem caused by sugar crystals that have not fully dissolved, Traci uses fine sugar.
Seems simple enough, so what can go wrong? If the bowl contain no oil residue to prevent the mixture from forming and the sugar was fine enough to prevent weeping, over mixing can still cause the meringue to become lumpy and begin to separate.
In any case, Traci recommends that you just start over. Start over? “Don’t worry about it,” she says with a smile. “Just keep plenty of eggs on hand and no one has to know.”
