Molly Cookie

Super Apple Pie and Perfect Apple Pie Crust

Nov 28, 2009 Crusts, Desserts, Food Things, Pies and Tarts, Uncategorized

I’m aware that this would have been a nice post to get out before Thanksgiving, but as this is the first Thanksgiving that has happened since I started this blog, I learned a few things this year. As Thanksgiving approached and I read other blogs I saw them posting wonderful looking Thanksgiving recipes weeks in advance, and I started to wonder how they were posting such beautiful pictures when the event had not even happened yet. Either they were practicing making the dishes, or they were using pictures from last year. In light of saving money and food I didn’t want to make anything a few weeks early, and I didn’t have any pictures from last year to go from. As Thanksgiving approached its seemed uncomfortable to post anything that wasn’t Thanksgiving related, so what turned out was 2 weeks of everyone opening my blog to stare at my late 20′s goals. For that I apologize.

Now you can open it and stare at a delicious apple pie.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I think when I was growing up I was a little ashamed to admit that, but now I can say it with confidence. Before when I would say it people would always look at me funny as if it should be something else, and then they would follow up the look with, “Well… mine is Christmas,” like there was something superior about people who like Christmas better. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas too, but there is something about Thanksgiving that says family in a way that Christmas sort of misses. Maybe it’s because Christmas is also drowned with a lot of “self” (What am I going to get? I hope they liked my present that I gave them! I want to watch my movie first!) Thanksgiving is merely family and friends coming together to eat, be together, and be thankful. I really love it.

This year my 7 year old niece went around the dinner table and asked everyone what they were thankful for. I don’t think we’ve done that since my brother, sister, and I were little kids. I love having kids around. They keep things real.

Anyway, since I love Thanksgiving so much, I decided this year I wanted to make something. After a little bit of thought and consideration I decided on an apple pie. The problem was that I didn’t really like apple pie, but I wanted to make something that everyone would like and that was semi-traditional for Thanksgiving dessert. Plus, I had never made an apple pie and I was up for the challenge. Brian remembered an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown had made a Super Apple Pie with a pie crust that was specifically designed for apple pie, so we watched the episode and from then on my plan was set. I was going to make Alton Brown’s Super Apple Pie.

The recipe is simple enough, but each ingredient is chosen for a carefully planned reason and shouldn’t be messed with much if you want to come out with the perfect pie crust and pie. The sugar, butter, and shortening to flour and liquid ratio determines how stable the crust will be, and this particular apple pie needs a stable and easily crisped crust. Sugar, butter, and shortening are weakeners, and the more of them we use in the crust the weaker the crust will be. Alton suggests that this may be good for a cream pie or something like that, but for apple pie we need a good, stable crust, which will lean more on the liquid and starches.

He also calls for Apple Jack instead of water for the crust, which I thought was pretty interesting. Ethyl alcohol doesn’t react with flour to produce gluten the way that water does, which allows the dough to be more pliable and less runny and wet. So, if it seems like a lot of liquid to be using don’t fret, the crust turned out really easy to work with.

I thought it was a really good idea to use a variety of different types of apples. We used Golden Delicious, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smith. As we cut and peeled the different varieties I tasted each one, and they each were very different and I could see why he chose them. Granny Smith was tart, Honeycrisp was really sweet, Golden Delicious had a cripsy texture, and Braeburn was just… good. It was a good combination and none of them tasted like the other. In the end it really did make for a great tasting pie.

The recipe can be found on the Food Network website. Thank you Alton for a great pie!

Super Apple Pie

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

6 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 ounces vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

5 to 7 tablespoons applejack

12 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 3/4 cups, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon table salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

For the Filling:

3 to 3 1/2 pounds apples, mixture of Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Braeburn and Golden Delicious, about 6 large apples

1/2 cup sugar, divided

3 tablespoons tapioca flour

2 tablespoons apple jelly

1 tablespoon apple cider ** Molly Note: you can also use a little apple juice or Apple Jack if you don’t have cider

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground grains of paradise

** Molly Note: these are hard to find. We found them at beer/wine making supply store. You can find them online at some spice retailers, or you can just use caraway or some other spice that you think sounds good. Most people put cinnamon or other spices in apple pie, and you can do that if you want. I definitely could tell that this pie didn’t have cinnamon, almost as if something was missing, but it definitely tasted of apples, so if you want the pie to taste apple-y then I would say leave it out.

Directions:

For the crust:

Place the butter, shortening and applejack into the refrigerator for 1 hour.

** Molly note: Make sure the butter and shortening are really, really cold. You don’t want them melting or softening too much. The butter chunks left in the dough will melt when the crust bakes and create little pockets of airy goodness. You can use just butter if you want, but the shortening has a different melting point than butter, so the different melting times in the oven will create a wonderfully textured crust.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt and sugar by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add the butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until the texture looks mealy. Add the shortening and pulse another 3 to 4 times until incorporated.

Remove the lid of the food processor and sprinkle in 5 tablespoons of the applejack. **Molly Note: we ended up needing 7 tbs before the dough held together at all. It was still very crumbly but it started to stick after 7 tbs. Depending on humidity and various other factors, you may need up to 7 tbs before it holds. Replace the lid and pulse 5 times. Add more applejack as needed, and pulse again until the mixture holds together when squeezed. Weigh the dough and divide in half. Shape each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

For the Filling:

Peel and core the apples. Slice into 1/2-inch thick wedges. Toss all of the apples with 1/4 cup of the sugar, place in a colander set over a large bowl and allow to drain for 1 1/2 hours.

**Molly Note: A 12 blade apple corer cuts the apples in perfect wedges. Our device had 10 blades, which also worked fine.

Transfer the drained liquid to a small saucepan, place over medium heat and reduce to 2 tablespoons. Set aside to cool. Toss the apples with the remaining sugar, tapioca flour, jelly, cider, lime juice, salt and grains of paradise.

** Molly Note: We found the Tapioca Flour at Whole Foods. If you can’t find it, go ahead and use all purpose. Alton says he uses Tapioca flour because it dissolves more easily than all purpose flour.

For assembling and baking the pie:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator. Place the dough onto a lightly floured piece of waxed paper. Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and roll out into a 12-inch circle.

Place into a 9 1/2 to 10-inch tart pan that is 2-inches deep. Gently press the dough into the sides of the pan, crimping and trimming the edges as necessary. Set a pie bird in the center of the bottom of the pan. **Molly Note: the pie bird is meant to help release the air from inside the pie. Most people will cut slits on the top of the crust to accomplish this, but often the juices from within will seep through those cracks causing a sticky crust top. Personally, after doing this, I would rather have a sticky crust top than a piece of foil sticking out the top of my pie. I wasn’t happy with the way it presented. The way you make a pie bird with foil is by wrapping a piece of foil around a straw or chopstick or something else long and skinny until you have a small tube of foil that is about 3 inches tall. You stick this directly in the center of the pie and the it will poke through the top of the crust. No need to cut slits if you do this.

Place the apples into the unbaked pie shell in concentric circles starting around the edges, working towards the center and forming a slight mound in the center of the pie. Pour over any liquid that remains in the bowl. Roll out the second pie dough as the first. Place this dough over the apples, pressing the pie bird through the top crust. Press together the edges of the dough around the rim of the pie.

Brush the top crust with the reduced juice everywhere except around the edge of pie. **Molly Note: this is what made the crust look so dark brown on top, but it is actually a layer of crunchy sweet apple wonderfulness that you can enjoy.

Trim any excess dough. Place the pie on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake on the floor of the oven for 30 minutes. This will allow the crust to brown before the apples cook all the way through and release juices which will weaken the bottom crust. Transfer to the lower rack of the oven and continue to bake another 20 minutes or until the apples are cooked through but not mushy. Remove to a rack and cool a minimum of 4 hours or until almost room temperature.

Tags: apple pie, apple pie crust, fruit pie, perfect crust, pie, pie crust, Super Apple Pie, thanksgiving dessert, thanksgiving pie