So I made a pie last night...

[missroserose]

...and as a result, I'm only just now awake enough to blog about it - I've been in Happy-Fun-Grog-Land for the last three hours or so, due mostly to pie-related stress and being up well past my bedtime. But let me back up somewhat.

First, as I mentioned recently, Brian has been wanting an apple pie, and I was sort of curious if I could make one without my mother's help, never having done so before. He was kind enough to get me a pastry cutter and a very nice marble rolling pin which, combined with a marble slab that we inherited from his mother, made two of the nicest surfaces I've ever had for working pastry. So, as promised, I got to work making the crust.

It was a pretty unmitigated disaster.

I started out with the full recipe (enough for a top and bottom crust), and aside from finding out the difficult way that my largest mixing bowl was much too small for that much flour, I must have lost track of how much flour I was putting in - it had way too much fat in it and ended up a mushy, sticky ball of paste. Scrapping that, I proceeded to make a half-recipe that looked better, but I accidentally put in 1/3 cup of shortening instead of 1/2, with the resulting dough being far too dry to roll properly. Finally, I managed to make one half-recipe with the right proportions; while still a bit dry, it produced a serviceable pie crust. The only flaw being, by then I was so sick of making pie crust dough that I gave up on the whole top-crust idea, and ended up making something much closer to an apple tart than a true pie.

The filling, by comparison, went relatively smoothly. Brian was a peach and peeled all the apples for me, so I just had to core and slice them. And I'm going to have to put the recipe for the filling in my blog - it was just that yummy.

Unfortunately, the recipe didn't say one way or the other about spraying the pie pan with nonstick stuff, and I didn't want to upset the delicate balance of ingredients that made up the crust, so I didn't grease the pan at all. Given how difficult it's been to get the pie out of said pan, I'm guessing that was something of a mistake.

Altogether, after all that hassle I ended up with an apple tart that tasted pretty good but didn't look very nice once served. As frustrating as it was, I can see why some people insist on homebaked pies - I'd gotten an apple crisp mix to compare and while decent-tasting it just couldn't compare. On the other hand, I can see why some people only use mixes - $3.50 and ten minutes' work for a guaranteed (if mediocre) result vs. hours of frustration and worry about the finished product and probably more money than that in wasted ingredients.

And, just because I'm a masochist, I'm going to try again this weekend. Or maybe it's because I really like using my nifty marble rolling pin. =D

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

My first thought.

My second: yeah, I can understand needing to use a marble rolling pin. I'm a sucker for marble. Plus edibles. Even if not visually appealing, my edible aesthetics stop at my taste buds. Om nom nom.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

That was Brian's reaction when I first mentioned I was thinking about trying to make a pie - and then he wouldn't shut up about it, so I actually had to make one. :)

Even though it's just damn cool on its own, marble has added benefits for use with pastry, especially flaky pastry like pie crusts. It's very dense, so it tends to stay cooler than wood or plastic, which keeps the fat from melting (the bane of every pie crust). It also doesn't absorb any of the fat like wood does.

I figure that so long as it tastes good, I'm 2/3rds of the way there - the rest is just details. And it really did taste good - the crust was even nice and flaky, which was more than I was expecting. =)

[borismarkovich.livejournal.com]

I've heard the crumblies that they have on top of Dutch apple pie is relatively easy to make. If you don't feel like messing with pie tops, that's probably a pretty good way to go. Here's a recipe for it I just found...

1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 stick butter

Mix together sugar and flour. Cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture using a fork, pastry blender or food processor.

Sprinkle over top of pie.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I actually thought about that but was hassled enough that I didn't think to check online (helps that I didn't know what it was called) and I couldn't find anything about it in The Joy of Cooking, probably for the same reason. I'll keep that in mind for next time, thanks!

[jamesd.livejournal.com]

Getting the taste right is the most mportant part so I'll say that you did well.

Besides, you need an excuse to keep that rolling pin in case you need to use it on Brian... :)

[likable-lemur.livejournal.com]

Hey, now wait a minute here...

[errant-variable.livejournal.com]

I quite agree with Brian - a rolling pin is not appropriate for the situation. Marble rolling pins are appropriate for no situations outside of culinary arts and decoration because of their easily marrable surface and tendency to cause massive trauma when swung, in addition to the lack of resonant note upon impact. If you are going to bludgeon an audiophile at least do it in an artistic manner that he can appreciate.

[jamesd.livejournal.com]

> at least do it in an artistic manner that he can appreciate.

Place a pie tin on his head first and test the resonance effects? :)

Avoiding the marred surface is easy. Just put it in a plastic bag first. Massive trauma. Hmm. That's a tough one. Hit the pie tin with gradually increasing force until the right note is struck in the mind of the recipient?