Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Apple Pie



Whoever says baking a pie is easy is lying. Or maybe they just have a reliable oven. This pie spent 2 hours baking. Every time I checked my oven thermometer, it was 100 degrees off in either direction, so I was constantly trying to get it close to what the recipe called for. Also, the crust was done 20 minutes after the pie went into the oven, which didn't help much.

I used the apple pie recipe from Baking Illustrated. They described a pie with good apple flavor (yes). They also said the filling would spread because they didn't want to dull the flavors with butter or thickener (true). In making this pie, I discovered the following:
1) I like pie filling to be thick
2) I like lots of spices

I used a mixture of granny smith apples and gala, and I really liked the combination. Next time I will use more granny smith, and less of the gala, because the gala was apple sauce by the time the granny smith was finished cooking. But I liked having the flavors of both.

Also, I used a store bought pie crust, which I will NEVER do again. I used Trader Joe's, and there was nothing bad about it, it just didn't compare to Martha's all-butter pate brisee, which I will definitely take the time to make the next time I make a pie.

This is a picture of Mt. Baker that I got out the car window on the drive home from Vancouver. For some reason I am quite fond of it:

8 comments:

Cakespy said...

Oh baby, this pie is intoxicating even over the internet! I agree, I like 'em thick too!

Gigi said...

Great looking pie! The crust looks perfectly golden.

Emily said...

THAT apple pie picture is amazing. It's perfect.
Apple pie is hard, and I think it's impossibe to bake a perfect one. I used a Cook's Illustrated recipe, one time. I wonder if the recipes are similar? It involved precooking the apples, before adding them to the pie crust. I also like a lot of spice in my pie.

Patricia Scarpin said...

Your pie look so good! I love how beautifully golden it is!

Cynthia said...

Looks crusty and appetizing though.

Emily said...

Happy holidays to you, Mallow!

Felicia said...

Merry Christmas :)

Nicole said...

Happy New Year! Hope you had a great holiday!