apple pie

Evan Kleiman, host of KCRW's beloved Good Food radio show, presided over a pie contest this weekend. This was the winning recipe, shared on her blog and re-posted for posterity. The sour cherries soaked in Calvados make this one sound killer, I've gotta try it.

Barbara Treves' Forever Favourite Apple Pie

Crust

1-1/2 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached, organic all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla powder
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
3 T sugar
1-1/4 cup sweet butter, unsalted (freshly made if possible)
1 Tablespoon white vinegar, chilled
6 - 8 Tablespoons ice water

Measure out all dry ingredients, combine and place in freezer, keep butter & liquid ingredients in refrigerator for at least one hour prior to preparation.

When ready, add dry ingredients to food processor and pulse to mix thoroughly. Add butter cubes and pulse until mixture resembles pea-sized meal. Add vinegar, pulse to mix then add ice water, 1 T at a time, until dough begins to stick together and when pinched by hand, holds together. Remove from processor and transfer to work surface. Divide the dough into two equal parts and gently form into balls, and wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Filling
4 Tablespoons sweet butter
12 organic apples from local farmers market (mixture of Granny Smith, Fuji or other tart, crisp apples the best) – peeled, cored and sliced.
1 vanilla bean, split seeds scraped

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup organic sugar

4 Tablespoons organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup dried, sour cherries, soaked in 1/4 cup Calvados for at least 2 hours

Filling Preparation

Mix all dry ingredients, including vanilla bean seeds together. Add 2 tablespoons of this dry mixture to roasting pan, along with peeled and sliced apples. Place under broiler and broil until apples are slightly browned but not cooked through. Once nicely browned, remove and add rest of the ingredients, except butter.

Adding Filling to Pie Dough

Chill pie plate while you roll out 1 of the dough discs on a lightly floured surface until you get a disc that measure slightly larger than your pie plate and about 1/8 “– 1⁄4” thick. Pull out pie plate and gently place rolled out dough in plate.

Add broiled apples mixture, then dot with 4 T butter. Roll out 2nd disc into a circle about 1/8” – 1⁄4” thick and place on top of apples. Pinch top and bottom dough edges together and form a decorative edge.

Final Topping

1 egg
1 Tablespoons Cream
Turbinado Coarse Raw Sugar

Beat the egg and cream together in a small dish then brush top and edges of pie with mixture, sprinkle with sugar.

Bake

400 degrees for 45 mins. Cover edges of pie with aluminum foil if starting to brown too quickly. Turn pie in oven and cook an additional 15 mins. or until done.

Cool for at least two hours prior to serving.

tomato pie

Haven't made this one yet, but borrowed it from someone else's web site. The recipe comes from the Martha Stewart Living cookbook. Looks really good! Evan Kleinman's "Good Food" blog on KCRW was been talking about "Pie-a-Day" and she referred to her liking of this recipe.

MAKES ONE 10-INCH PIE; SERVES 8

Gruyère cheese and cherry tomatoes provide a savory version of that summer classic, the double-crusted fruit pie. Resist the temptation to eat this pie straight from the oven. Wait until it has reached room temperature; the juice from the tomatoes will have had time to collect. Serve it as a light lunch or as a side dish.

Ingredients

• 2¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2½ teaspoons kosher salt
• 2½ teaspoons sugar
• 1¼ cups grated Gruyère cheese
• 1 cup (2 sticks) plus 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds assorted cherry tomatoes
• ½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large egg

Method

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine 2½ cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1 cup grated cheese. Add 1 cup butter pieces; process until mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. With machine running, gradually pour ¼ cup of ice water through the feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without becoming wet or sticky; do not process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount of the mixture together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
2. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each into a disk; wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.
3. Melt remaining tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent and softened, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool slightly.
4. Place tomatoes in a large bowl. Toss with remaining ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, 1½ teaspoons salt, and 1½ teaspoons sugar, and the basil and pepper; when the onion mixture is cooled, add to tomato mixture; toss to combine. Transfer the mixture to a deep 9- or 10-inch pie plate. Set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Roll out half the dough into a circle 1 inch larger than the pie plate. (The remaining dough may be frozen up to 2 months for later use.) Transfer rolled dough to top of plate; tuck in edges to seal. Make 3 to 4 small slits in the top crust; form a decorative edge.
6. In a small bowl, mix the egg with 1 teaspoon water for an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the crust; sprinkle the crust with the remaining ¼ cup of grated cheese. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet to catch drips; bake until the crust is golden and the insides are bubbling, about 50 minutes. Bring to room temperature, and serve.

piece of pie...errr...cake

That was a great line from 2010, the sequel to Kubrick's 2001:A Space Odessey. By some random occurrence, I actually saw a scene from 2010 being filmed at Leo Carrillo State Beach north of Malibu. It was the scene when Roy Scheider is biking down the asphalt hill in the tricycle-bike. I was camping at the beach with my mom & brother when I saw that scene being filmed.
"
Anyway, saw an episode of "Good Eats" with Alton Brown (episode entitled "I Pie") that got me thinking about baking pie, which I haven't done in years. I used to really enjoy baking pies, and I have made peach, cherry, apple and lemon meringue. I liked making pies mostly because my mom never really baked sweets, much less pies, and I love pie! I remember reading recipes from an old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook from the 1960's. The crusts always turned out mealy and never flaky, but now I think I know why (I was using butter!) So here are some "crusty" notes I scribbled while watching the episode earlier this week.

• "Blind baking" a crust means to bake it without filling, then add filling later. This is typically done for meringue pies.
• Alton recommends all-purpose flour, and not bread flour, unless you want a chewy dough, because bread flours typically have a higher gluten content.
• Using butter as the "fat" in pastry dough will make your crust more "crumby", not flakey, but will aid in browning
• Using lard will yield flaky crust because of its high melting point.
• Using a combination of butter & lard, you get the best of both worlds
• Before starting, put butter and lard in the freezer for 15 minutes. You need to work with cold fats.

Here's the entire recipe:

• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) butter, chilled
• 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lard, chilled
• 6 ounces (approximately 1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 cup ice water, in spritz bottle
• Approximately 32 ounces of dried beans, for blind baking

Place butter and lard in freezer for 15 minutes. When ready to use, remove and cut both into small pieces.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy. Add lard and pulse another 3 to 4 times. Remove lid of food processor and spritz surface of mixture thoroughly with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times. Add more water and pulse again until mixture holds together when squeezed. Place mixture in large zip-top bag, squeeze together until it forms a ball, and then press into a rounded disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place 2 metal pie pans in the refrigerator to chill.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Cut along 2 sides of the plastic bag, open bag to expose dough, and sprinkle both sides with flour. Cover again with plastic and roll out with a rolling pin to a 10 to 11-inch circle. Open plastic again and sprinkle top of dough with flour. Remove pie pans from refrigerator and set first pan on top of dough. Turn everything upside down and peel plastic from bottom of dough. Place second pan upside down on top of dough and flip again. Remove first pan from atop dough. Trim edges if necessary, leaving an edge for meringue to adhere to. Poke holes in dough and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Place a large piece of parchment paper on top of dough and fill with dry beans. Press beans into edges of dough and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove parchment and beans and continue baking until golden in color, approximately 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Let cool completely before filling.

Enough for tonight, pie-pie! :)