Quest for the Perfect Pie Dough and Apple Pie

Before going further in depth in the entry, it is important to define "the perfect pie crust." It should be buttery, golden, full of flavor, flaky as well as tender. The dough should be easy to work with and roll out easily. And (last but not least) I should be able to make it every time perfectly. OK, "the perfect pie crust" doesn't exist, so I should probably rename this post the Almost Perfect Pie Crust. That being said, I don't think it is unreasonable to be able to make an incredible pie crust. Being the biochemist that I am, baking has always interested me. It is full of chemical reactions, yeast, leaveners, acid/base reactions, heat, etc. In science, recipes are called "protocols" and it is a description of the ingredients, temperature, humidity and variables that allows one to repeat the protocol over and over again with the exact same results as the first time. Unfortunately, baking doesn't care about my scientific mind. I can usually master most baking/cooking challenges, but pie crust has always been hit or miss for me no matter how precise I am. In the past I have relied on Cooks Illustrated 1994 pie crust recipe for pie crust (copy of recipe is in replies section). It is a good recipe, but there are several things that I don't like about it such as it is hard to roll out unless it is very cold; I think it has too much butter and fat; following that, it has shortening in the recipe. Besides the health concerns with using artificially saturated fat, shortening does not contribute any flavor to the crust. Shortening is tasteless and if I am going to eat fat, I'd rather it be natural and taste good, like butter. Cook's Illustrated came out with a novel pie crust recipe last year that contained vodka. The scientific principle behind vodka is that alcohol prevents the formation of gluten in the dough, thus tenderizing the crust. It also allows you to use more liquid (vodka) than standard pie doughs making the dough easy to roll out. Again, it is a good recipe, but has some shortcomings. When it bakes up, it is not "flaky," but rather soft. It gets soggy with fruit pies and doesn't have that distinctive browned buttery crispy flavor--more like undercooked crust flavor while not bad but not perfect.

Since we have moved up here to Wisconsin (the land of butter and dairy), I have been tinkering with the pie crust recipe on my own. One experiment that was noteworthy is that I melted the butter and added vodka directly to the butter. Recooled it and then cut the butter into the dough as usual. Cool experiment, but it really didn't help the pie crust. Finally I did a google search on "best pie crust" and came up with this page. She had systematically gone through the pie crust recipes and determined that Rose Levy Beranbaum the author of The Pie and Pastry Bible had the best pie crust. It was flaky, and tender, easy to roll out, and had a deep browned butter flavor. So this past weekend Ruthie and I got into the kitchen and tried the recipe out by making an apple pie.

I am not really good at explain pictures or dictating recipes line by line so I will just list the recipes and post the pics. But let me tell you, this was the best apple pie I have ever made. If you make one dessert on our site, you need to make this. It is that good. We devoured the first one I think in 24 hours and and made another one last nigh for friends.

I tweaked the original Rose Levy Beranbaum's pie crust a little bit. I replaced 2 oz of butter with vegetable oil. The oil tenderizes the pie crust even more.



Cream Cheese pastry for two-crust 9-inch pie

Food Processor Method:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (10 oz )
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder (yep that's right)
1/2 cup butter (4 oz )
1/4 cup vegetable oil (2 oz )
1/2 cup plus 1 TB cream cheese (4.5 oz )
2 TB ice water (1 oz )
1 TB white vinegar (1/2 oz )

Cut the butter into small (about 1/2 –inch) cubes. Wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it until frozen solid, at least 30 minutes. Place the flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl and freeze for at least 30 minutes.

Place the flour mixture in a food processor with the metal blade and process for a few seconds to combine. Set the bag aside.
Cut the cream cheese into 3 or 4 pieces and add it to the flour. Process for about 20 seconds or until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add vegetable oil through feed tube and process for about 2 to 3 more seconds.

Add the frozen butter cubes and pulse until none of the butter is larger than the size of a pea (About 5 1-second pulses; best to under process at this stage. Toss with a fork to see it better.). Remove the cover and add the water and vinegar. Pulse until most of the butter is reduced to the size of small peas ( 2-3 three more 1-second pulses). The mixture will be in particles and will NOT hold together. Don't add any more water. Spoon it into the plastic bag or plastic wrap (I like plastic wrap).

Holding both ends of the bag opening with your fingers, knead the mixture alternately pressing it from the outside of the plastic wrap, with the knuckles and heels of your hands until the mixture holds together in one piece and feels slightly stretchy when pulled.hen divide into two portions with one portion slightly smaller than the other for the top crust (usually doesn't need as much dough to cover the pie).




Wrap the dough with plastic wrap, flatten it into a disc (or discs), and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, preferably overnight.

Best Apple Pie

3 Granny Smith apples

3 Macintosh apples (yes, it is required to have both types of apples)

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbs. lemon juice

1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/2 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs. butter

Peel and core apples and slice thinly about ¼ inch thick. Sprinkle lemon juice on the apple slices and toss to distribute evenly. Combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and coat the apple slices leaving them to macerate from a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 3 hours. Transfer the apple mixture to a colander set over a bowl to capture the juices. You should get around ½ cup.

Preheat the oven to 425 °F.

Boil the juices with the butter until you get a syrupy consistency. Meanwhile sprinkle the cornstarch over the apple slices until no traces of white can be seen. Pour the juice-syrup on the apple slices, it may stiffen on contact but it should melt and redistribute when you bake.

Roll out the bottom crust and line your pie plate leaving about ½ an inch pass the edge. Refrigerate the bottom crust while you roll out your top crust. After filling the pie, wet the edges of the bottom crust and lay the top crust over the filling. Tuck the edges of the top crust over the overhang of the bottom crust and design the border as desired.

Brush with egg yolk if desired.

Cut 5 vents on the top crust to allow the steam to escape.

Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour until juices bubble to the top and a paring knife inserted through the vents meet with very little resistance.

Let cool on a rack for about 4 hours before slicing. (Yeh right.)

Okay, I suck at recipe writing so if any of the instructions are not clear for the apple pie, let me know and I will clarify.