Last night i caught up with work by about 5:30pm, astonishingly enough, and so i went downstairs and made that apple pie. The apples were just about to croak, but they were still fine, and last night's first slice was delightful.
I am really trying to work on my pie crust, since i come from a line of women who make truly great pie pastry and mine is not yet up to snuff, my impending middle-age notwithstanding. Last night's crust ended up being extra-flaky, which i attribute to the speed with which cold butter can be cut in when using an old-school wire-style pastry cutter (which i've not done lately, because I forgot where it was). It was shatteringly crisp and golden, but yet somehow still a little bit tough. I wonder if I overworked it a bit, trying to get the water incorporated? Or trying to roll it out thin enough? Or perhaps it's because I made the crust then realized I'd not peeled a single apple, so I put the crusts into the fridge to hold for a half hour or so while I cranked out filling. Not sure, but will continue to experiment.
Also, I am not sure I approve of tapioca as a thickener for apple pie. It seems texturally weird to me, in a way that it doesn't when it's in a berry pie. Perhaps I will go with flour next time.
(photo coming)
Posted by foodnerd at November 28, 2007 12:42 PMI feel similarly about tapioca in berry and apple pies. I don't like flour as a thickener in pies, though, because it doesn't yield a clear sauce. It can also end up testing like raw flour if it's not cooked enough. I often use arrowroot, though corn starch works, too.
Posted by: Chris at November 30, 2007 12:34 PM