Why it's worth trying (again) to learn a new skill

Plus a from-scratch-crust class that might answer all your pie pain points.

Decades ago, I tried to make a pie crust.

Following a printed recipe - never the best way for me to learn a new technique - I jumped in with enthusiasm.

First, I gleefully dug my measuring cup into the flour. Then I cut in the butter, giving the dough a good smoosh with my hands every few seconds. Then I rolled and rolled and rolled the crust, but it didn’t seem big enough, so I stretched it with my hands.

If you know anything about making pie crusts, you’re probably cringing - or perhaps yelling at your screen - right now. You won’t be surprised to learn that instead of the flaky, light delight I’d dreamed of, I wound up with a flat, hard, heavy, tough crust that shrunk so much when it baked that the filling spilled into the bottom of the dish.

After that, I swore that homemade pie crust wasn’t worth the effort and learning curve, and I’ve been a reluctant store-bought customer ever since.

The other day I had the good fortune of learning how to make a pie crust from scratch as part of a community learning workshop at my private community, The Tea Circle. My friend Kirsetin Morello, who’s also a member of the group, led us in a live pie-crust class and demo. And within three minutes, I learned what I’d done wrong:

Everything.

But here’s three things I loved about my later-in-life re-introduction to crust creation:

It came in the right format.

I don’t learn well by reading recipes - and I don’t really learn at all from 30-second Instagram reels, though I like to believe I’m acquiring skills simply by consuming pretty content. A live demo is much more effective for me, especially a detailed up-close one where I can ask questions (I always have LOTS of questions.)

It came at the right time.

Twenty years ago, when I tried to make a pie crust, I was crawling with young children. I had little privacy, personal space, or patience. No wonder my first failed attempt was, seemingly, my last!

But as I like to say, the way things were aren’t the way they’ll always be. As time has opened up in my life, I don’t feel like I have to fight so hard for every moment of peace and privacy. In turn, I’ve become more patient and more willing to put in the time to learn something the slow and steady way (which is usually, it turns out, the best way.)

I came to it with the right mindset.

As a young mother I harbored unreasonable goals of homemaking perfection. A so-so result felt unacceptable, and led to me just giving up on a lot of skills I may have been able to learn over time. These days, it doesn’t matter if I make the perfect pie crust. I just want to get my hands…um, sorry, FORK…on the dough and see what happens.

As we roll into the holiday season, I’m definitely seeing an imperfect made-by-my-hands pie in my future. Not because I need to do it, or because I expect to become a pastry chef, but simply because I like pie, it looks like fun, and I want to give it a shot.

How about you?

Feeling inspired to try your hand at a pie crust for the first (or second, or hundredth) time? Kirsetin’s tutorial was amazing and so helpful, and I’ve got a couple of options for you if you’d like to watch the whole thing.

1. Paid subscribers of this Substack can get access to an edited, 23-minute long video showing Kirsetin making a double-crust apple pie, plus her recipe and supply list - all below the jump. For a limited time, paid Substack members will also get a discounted membership to my private community, The Tea Circle.

2. Members of The Tea Circle get the recipe and supply list plus access to the entire 45-minute video, including a Q&A with community members, and an additional tutorial on how to make a yummy dessert from the pie-crust scraps. You’ll also be able to attend regular live events like this one in the future, and connect deeply with a group of creative, thoughtful, smart women in a social-media-free space.

3. I’ll also be including an an audio excerpt of the tutorial in next week’s episode of The Tea’s Made podcast. Subscribe/follow now so you don’t miss it!

Now, on to the rest of the class…