YE OLDE APPLE PIE for the 1st time

Today (Mar 28), I made pie for the first time in my life. I was hesitant about pies at first because of all the apprehensive pie bakers I've read about online that talk as if pie crust is the Holy Grail of baking. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I LOVE PIE MORE THAN CAKE, so I ABSOLUTELY HAD TO MAKE PIE (it was an intense itch), so I kept on reading a lot and absorbing information, took a deep breath, bought myself a baking mat and a rolling pin, and WENT OFF TO MAKE SOME PIES!!! :D

adorable mini apple pies

Originally I wanted to make Pumpkin Pie, which I believed to be the Best Pie Ever the first and last time I had a taste of it at the International Students' Pot Luck Christmas Party. But due to wanting to make my own pumpkin puree and not the canned kind and thus needing more time and effort for it, I decided to try instead another American favorite, Apple Pie.

The base pie crust I used is the All Butter, Real Flaky Pie Dough from SmittenKitchen. I wanted an all-butter crust and didn't want to mess around with shortening. Assembling the pie dough itself was easier than I expected (but this was probably also due to my extensive reading on the subject, I was prepared for everything). The real challenge, however, was in the ROLLING part, and then the actual BAKING part. Here are my notes:

A definite flake on the top crust - even though I was almost sure it was overworked!

PUTTING THE PIE DOUGH TOGETHER
1. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour plus 1 1/2 cup all-purpose. Taste was excellent. It was also easy to work with.
2. All utensils should be placed in the freezer/fridge beforehand. Premeasure the flour and chill in the freezer. Butter MUST be be frozen. The baking mat (which I use for rolling) should also be chilled.
3. I used the more expensive President brand of French butter and I believe it made a difference. The butter was a dream to work with, and had a pleasant buttery smell and pale butter color unlike local brands.
4. I was planning on grating the butter, but the grater I had was useless so at the last minute I cubed the butter. I had no pastry blender so I tried the fork method but found using my fingers the most efficient. It was pleasant doing this, actually. Only the fingers/tips should be used. The palms are warm enough to melt the butter. Again, COLD is the key.
5. I had slight troubles in putting together little mounds of dough for my mini pies, but that was because I wasn't sure how much dough I needed to fill each muffin pan.

ROLLING OUT THE PIE DOUGH
1. Pie dough straight from the freezer is too hard. From the fridge is best.
2. Again, chill the baking mat.
3. Our kitchen is too hot. The pie dough becomes warm in about 2 minutes. It really is best to work in an AC room.
4. It's better to place plastic wrap sheets between the dough - makes the dough MUCH easier to move and roll. It also saves the rolling pin from getting gunky and dirty.
5. Roll pie dough by turning the dough clockwise with each roll.
6. Don't roll out the dough too thin, as the filling may leak.
7. Do not overwork the pie dough. Handle it as little as possible.

ASSEMBLING THE PIE
1. Poke holes with a fork at the bottom of the crust to prevent it from bubbling up.
2. Apply a layer of egg white wash to prevent sogginess.
3. Hot temperatures make a lattice top virtually impossible. If I want a lattice top, I think I may have to freeze strips in the freezer beforehand.
4. Always make sure to chill the assembled pie beforehand, top crust and all. This prevents shrinking.
5. Make the top crust bigger than called for to make room for folding in the sides. Alternatively, I'm thinking of making a decorative braided edge.
6. Paint with egg wash (+ milk next time) for a shiny top.
7. Make sure there are no cracks at the sides.

fruit juices bubbling on top

BAKING THE PIE
1. Fruit pie filling bubbles up and releases juices, so it's best to bake with another pan underneath.
2. The top crust really does bake much faster than the undersides. I have to tent the pie with aluminum foil about 10 or 15 minutes into baking, (as soon as I see the top browning),
3. then I have to increase baking time to probably about 40 to 45 minutes. I used the #7 setting in the oven.

Shrunken top crust, because I didn't chill the top enough.

Underbaked crust, but I think this is deliciously tender!

CONCLUSION:

For my first pie, I must say...the taste is superb!!! I am crust-lover (as long as the crust is worth it), and the crust was very flavorful indeed. It was sweet, but just the right sweetness. Even though the bottoms were undercooked and such weren't as flaky, the tops did show signs of flakiness. I'm expecting to get better and get good flakiness next time (though I think most people here, including myself, actually like the tenderness of underbaked crusts much better). But I want to try the 'classic' flaky way first.

For the filling, I used the recipe Apple Pie by Grandma Ople from Allrecipes since it has such rave reviews. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon, but McCormick cinnamon is so weak I couldn't even detect it! I'm thinking of investing in the more expensive organic cinnamon next time. Since I used muscovado sugar instead of brown (no decent brown sugar here), the filling was an intense dark brown and had a strong brown sugar taste. But still good, though my mom wanted it less sweet (I simply had too much syrup). Personally, I was surprised that the sugar mixture was not as sweet as I expected. I didn't think it was tooo sweet at all. But next time I'm definitely going to use a lesser ratio of syrup to filling! The filling wasn't liquidy (maybe because I frantically added a teaspoon more of flour than called for?) so I mixed the apples in them instead - not a bad strategy, actually. The Granny Smith apples were pleasantly tart, in contrast to the syrup. I'm thinking that next time I could reduce the butter as well, maybe to 1/3 cup.

These mini apple pies are definitely better than McDonald's Apple *cough* Chayote Pie *cough*. However, I am still on the lookout for the perfect Apple Pie filling. I am also going to add nutmeg next time.