Thanksgiving and pie-making

When I was a little girl, I remember my father's mother always liked to bake.
When you'd go in her house, it was always HOT in there!  She had a small house and the heat from the oven--whew!
But it always smelled good because she had been baking something---banana bread, cake, pie, whatever.

She gave me some tips that I still remember to this day about pie making:

She reminded me to try not to handle the pie dough too much.  The more you work it, handle it, the tougher the crust will become.
She said that it's just the opposite of working with bread dough.  When kneading bread dough, the more you knead it and work with it, the better it is.   So, just enough forming the pie dough into a ball would be the best way.

After sprinkling flour on your surface, she instructed me to put a little flour on the rolling pin, also, to prevent sticking.
When rolling out the pie dough, it is tempting to just roll it back and forth.
She instructed me to NEVER do this.
She showed me how to start from the middle of the flattened ball of dough, and keep rolling outwards from the center of the dough.

When the dough seems like a large enough circle, you can put your pie plate over it to measure.  Make sure your circle is a couple of inches larger than your pie plate.  You have to allow for it to dip down into the pie plate, and also to make a crust, which you pinch between your fingers.

I did that this year; but also used a more modern technique, which is a real time-saver.

Seriously, both kinds of pies were delicious.