Pie, Pie, Me Oh My!

It's been a while since my last entry, but that doesn't mean I haven't been trying new things. For one, I entered a "new phase" called graduate school! I started my M.M. in Choral Conducting at BGSU back at the end of August. I'm definitely settled in now and can devote some time to blogging again. I was going to pick up where I left off with pasta making and make spinach pasta with cream sauce, but my plans changed when I went to Patterson's and bought a half peck of Cortland apples. The temptation to slice them and envelop them in flaky, buttery goodness was too great - I wanted to make pie! It went like this.

Aspirations

Sure, I've made pies before. French silk. Pumpkin. But step one involved going to the frozen section. In other words, a big part of this pie goal for me is learning the art of homemade crust. For those of you that know my mother, you know that I have some big shoes to fill when it comes to making crust. Vicky Relitz is a master, and crust is serious business in my family. Single crust, double crust, and lattice top are all on my to-do list. As for the filling, I've got lots of ideas. I do love dessert.

Lots of Butter

My spoils from Patterson's sealed the deal: I was on my way to classic apple pie with a double crust. I put on the Beatles (get it?) and turned to my favorite cookbook: The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. But judging from the amount of butter and shortening the recipe called for, I thought I was reading Paula Deen.

That's a lot of butter, folks. After I processed the lard sticks and dry ingredients, I added 6 tablespoons of ice water. (My mother always emphasizes that this water needs to be icy, not just cold!) Kneading came next followed by an hour of refrigeration.

If at First You Don't Succeed

The dough had rested and it was time to roll it out, but it didn't seem like the right consistency. It seemed too greasy, like it needed more flour, but I proceeded anyway trusting ATK's proportions. When I rolled the dough over the pie dish, it completely fell apart. Sad.

I added an extra 1/4 cup of flour, kneaded again, and it held together the second time. Success! I'm not exactly sure what happened. We'll see if I need to add extra flour next time.

Easy as Pie

The rest of the recipe unfolded as you'd expect. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Really, it was as easy as 1-2-3.

Reward

My favorite part was crimping the edge of the dough, but my favoritest part was taking it out of the oven - the smell was divine!

Two out of two taste-testers agreed that the pie turned out well. It was very tasty, but there were a couple of minor problems. The top of the crust broke very easily when I sliced into it, and the bottom of the crust was difficult to work with because of all the juice from the apples. I wonder if there's anything to be done about that. I also wonder if it really matters. Presentation isn't everything!