Grocery shopping this Saturday included the ingredients for an apple pie. Not just any apple pie mind you, The Open Faced Designer Apple Pie as it appears in her afore mentioned book.
Not only do you get a recipe in this cookbook, but a detailed description of how different kinds of flour affect baking. It is like a class in baking. Trying to be a good student, I poured over the instructions, digressing to every note about this and that, found on another page.
I devoted the whole day to this pie and it was worth it. Now I don't have permission to give out her recipe, but suffice it to say that the crust making is crucial. The crust has cream cheese and butter and very little water. It also has apple cider. Cream cheese I learned has a lot of water in it. There is a reason given for each ingredient and how it affects the outcome of the pie.
Apples were purchased at the farmer's market on Saturday. Rose suggests using a combination of apples, choose firm apples that will stand up to baking.
Each step in the recipe was followed exactly--you really do need to get this book!
Hours later, I hurry for no one these days -- retirement has its perks, Don and I were enjoying a delicious apple pie with vanilla ice cream of course! Wish we had smell-a-vision so you could enjoy this too!
Apples are cut very thin and allowed to macerate for up to 3 hours. The juices are collected and reduced to make a concentrated syrup which is poured back over the apples once they are placed in the pie crust.
A final touch is a coating of apricot jelly over the apples!
The little koala spoon rest is my kitchen mascot and was a gift from Australia, thanks Rainey! He shows up in a lot of my cooking posts.
Oh yes, it was soooooo good!
The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum
Scribner, 1998
click this link below to go to Rose's blog:
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