B-b-b-baking: Pie which is...?

Turkey dinner numero trois was today, so I decided to fulfill my desire to make an apple pie this morning. Apple pies are nice and autumn-y and fitting for Thanksgiving, so why not? :)

 

I based my pie recipe largely off from RunnyRunny999's for the dough and filling. His name is Taro, and he's another Japanese cooking YouTube person, but I like his comical personality and accent. For most of his videos, he will take an "order", do a cooking tutorial for that request, and then eat whatever he just made. While eating whatever he just made, he might wear something like a weird wig or glasses. He gives off the feeling of a regular person trying to cook, so you tend not to feel intimidated. It'd be like if I decided to post YouTube videos of myself cooking/baking stuff. That is unlikely to happen however, because I am camera shy and technologically-inept. This blog is challenging enough as it is ;P

 

Things I have learned today about apple pie:

- It is possible to make an apple pie in less than an hour (so long as you make the pie dough ahead of time).

- Anna Olson is a master of the lattice top pie. Unfortunately, even if I follow her method, my lack of hand-eye coordination leads to depressing results. Next time!

- I suck at peeling apples probably even more than I suck at peeling sweet potatoes. :(

- My pie dishes are wider and shallower than I originally thought.

- People are smart and use something grainy to put at the bottom of the pie before putting in the filling so it doesn't get all watery. This is smart only because it reminds me of my first apple pie-making experience in junior high. I was in a fail group of me plus 3 guys who were only in foods class to eat the product at the end. When we sliced open the pie, apple juice came rushing out, and the apples were undercooked. I shouldn't have trusted them with the filling. Derp.



"Apple fillings". Tender, smooth, and housewarming~

My futile attempt at a lattice top apple pie. One strand is only "on-tops"...I only noticed AFTER baking it. I also failed at spreading the filling evenly, so there is more filling "sauce" on one side, and more apples on the other. = =;;

Homemade Apple Pie (adapted from RunnyRunny999)
Double-Crust Pie Dough
2/3 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup for rolling
1/2 cup cold margarine
1/2 cup water
4 ice cubes

1. Place ice cubes in your cup of water and set aside for later use.
2. Add flour into a medium-sized bowl.
3. Cut-in margarine with a pastry cutter until dough is somewhat flaky.
4. Remove ice cubes from water, and add it to the dough in small additions while cutting in with pastry cutter, until dough just holds together.
5. Place a piece of plastic wrap bigger than the bowl, over top of the bowl, and flip it upside down. Wrap the dough and chill for at least an hour.
6. Lightly flour a cutting board and rolling pin.
7. Press the dough out in front of you so that it is a long wide strip.
8. Fold the strip in half, and then in half again.
9. Turn the dough so that one of the open ends faces you, and repeat steps 7 and 8 until the dough is smooth.
10. Return to the fridge for another 30 minutes, or keep stored in the fridge afterwards until ready for use.

Filling
2 gala apples (I was going to use another recipe originally and it told me I needed 6-8 apples. Now I have a lot of apples.)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (You don't have to use this much. I just really like cinnamon.)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
Half of a fresh lemon
Granulated sugar to taste

1. Heat up a large sauce pan on medium heat.
2. Peel, core, and cut the apples into bite-sized pieces, and add them into the pan.
3. Add the brown sugar, and squeeze the juice of the lemon directly into the pan. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, and reduce the heat to medium low.
4. Simmer and stir until apples are tender, then add cornstarch and cinnamon, and continue stirring until dissolved and slightly thickened.
5. Pour apple mixture into a medium-sized bowl. Use a teaspoon to taste some of the filling. If it's too tart, add some granulated sugar and stir until dissolved. I added about half of a 1/4 cup.
6. Set aside until ready for use.

Apple Pie
1 batch of double-crust pie dough
1 batch of apple pie filling
4 graham crackers

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 F.
2. Split the pie dough in half, and roll out one half evenly on a floured surface until it is wide enough to completely cover your pie plate plus some. Lay one of the circles in the centre of your pie plate, and roll out the second half of your dough.
3. Slice the second circle into 12-14 strips of an equal length and set aside. I used my pastry cutter, because I didn't think of using my pizza cutter. That's why it looks kind of clumsy...
3. Place graham crackers into a ziploc bag and crush into little bits. Try not to crush it too much into a powder.
4. Spread the graham crackers on top of the pie dough in your pie plate.
5. Spread the pie filling on top of the graham crackers.
6. Create a lattice top. Lay 6 or 7 of the strips horizontally across the top of the pie. Fold back every second strip so that you can lay one strip vertically across the pie about 1 inch from the inside edge of the crust. Unfold the horizontal strips, and fold back every first strip this time so that you can lay another strip vertically across the pie about 1 inch from the edge of the last vertical strip. Repeat this alternating process until you have a criss-crossing weave pattern on the top of the pie. If you have no idea what I was talking about because I wasn't smart enough to do step-by-step photos, Google "Anna Olson lattice pie". Anna Olson is my pastry chef god.
7. Cut off the ends of the lattice strips that hang off the edge of the pie pan and stick them around the crust's edge. Roll the edge of the first pie circle to cover the edges and pinch to close. Mine is ugly because I didn't make the first circle big enough so I had to "Band-Aid" it with leftover pieces of pie dough from cutting the strips. This was my first attempt at a lattice top. I promise to get better.
8. If you want to, you can take the time to beat an egg yolk and brush it on the top of the pie and sprinkle some coarse sugar to make it look nicer. I forgot to do this. > >''
9. Loosely cover the pie with a sheet of aluminum foil to prevent it from burning. Bake for about 15 min, then remove the sheet of foil and return to the oven for another 10 min until the crust is golden brown and the filling is nice and bubbly.
10. Serve a la mode or on its own!

E was nice enough to join me for lunch today before going to study. Unfortunately for him, I didn't have any ready-to-go meat. Luckily, he is a super egg fanatic. No, he couldn't have my salmon because that was for me.


Pan-fried salmon sandwich with iceberg lettuce on a toasted ciabatta bun, and a side of homemade sweet potato fries.
Note: This time, I tried replacing the olive oil with an egg white, and I baked them at 450 F for about 10 minutes on each side. It actually turned out slightly better. However, I have come to realize that baked fries will probably never be as crispy as deepfried ones, but that is okay with me. They were still yummy :)

E was so kind to join me for lunch today. Double-fried egg sandwich with iceberg lettuce and Kraft Singles cheese on homemade garlic ciabatta bun, and a side of homemade sweet potato fries.

Pan-fried salmon
3 oz. salmon filet
1 egg white (Leftover from the other day's custard. The other one went into the sweet potato fries.)
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. De-scale the fish filet by scraping the skin with a knife against the scales. Rinse the filet with cold water to make sure you won't be eating miniature toe nails.
2. Add oil to a pan on medium heat. Beat an egg white and drench filet. Because you notice that there is way more egg white than you need, add the rest to the two eggs you are frying for your boyfriend's sandwich. He won't notice ;P
3. Place filet on pan skin side down, and add salt and pepper on flesh to taste. Let cook for a couple minutes depending on the thickness. Mine was maybe an inch thick in the centre. Flip to cook on flesh side for a couple minutes. Fish cooks really fast, and it's easy to overdo salmon, so just eye it and you should be good.
4. Remove from heat and dress up as you like. I put mine on a toasted ciabatta bun with some lettuce and mustard. Most fish tastes awesome with anything vinegar-y. You will notice that my anything to bread/rice ratio must be at least 1:1, but it's usually more like 2 or 3:1.

It has been a pretty food-tastic weekend :)

-M