Apple Pie a la Mode

In a recent post, I discuss how I won a cooking competition by baking a beautiful and tasty apple pie. I was unable to locate any pictures of that award winning pie, but that's OK because I can whip up a great tasting pie and take pictures of it any day of the week! 

This post contains 2 recipes. The first is for the dough needed to make the pie crust. The second is for the apple pie. Both recipes came from The Professional Chef, which is The Culinary Institute of America's textbook. I did, however, make a few minor changes of my own. 

I watched a YouTube video titled: CIA Chef of the Century Paul Bocuse. In it, Chef Bocuse says, "To me, butter is the main ingredient in cooking." Butter is now my main ingredient in cooking, too! So, I wanted to pay particular attention to use the best butter in preparing both my dough and my apple pie. I recommend you do the same! (I used Kerrygold Salted Butter.)

 

Basic Pie Dough (3-2-1)  

Makes 6 lb 6 oz/2.89 kg

Ingredients

• 3 lb/1.36 kg all-purpose flour 
• 1 oz/28 g salt 
• 2 lb/907 g butter, cubed, cold  
• 1 lb/454 g cold water

Combine the flour and salt thoroughly. Using your fingertips, gently rub the butter into the flour to form large flakes or walnut-size pieces for an extremely flaky crust, or until it looks like a coarse meal for a finer crumb.

Add the water all at once and mix until the dough just comes together. It should be moist enough to hold together when pressed into a ball.

Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and shape into an even rectangle. Wrap the dough with plastic and chill for 20 to 30 minutes.

The dough is ready to roll out now, or it may be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 6 weeks. (Thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator before rolling it out.)

Scale the dough as necessary, using about 1 oz/28 g of dough per 1 in/3 cm of pie pan diameter.

To roll out the dough, work on a floured surface and roll the dough into the desired shape and thickness with smooth, even strokes.

Transfer the dough to a prepared pie or tart pan, or cut and fit into tartlet pans. The shell is ready to fill or bake blind now.

 

Apple Pie a la Mode

Makes one double-crust pie (9 in/23 cm)

Ingredients

• 1 lb 4 oz/567 g Basic Pie Dough
• 1 lb 8 oz/680 g Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 5 oz/142 g sugar
• 3/4 oz/21 g cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp/1.50 g salt
• 1/2 tsp/1 g ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp/1 g ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp/15 mL lemon juice
• 1 oz/28 g butter, melted

Prepare the pie dough according to the recipe directions. Divide the dough in two equal pieces. Roll half of the dough 1/8 in/3 mm thick and line the pie pan. Reserve the other half, wrapped tightly and refrigerated.

Cover the dough in the pie pan with wax paper. Poke a few holes in the wax paper for venting. Add something with enough weight to keep the wax paper from blowing off. (I normally use about 5 pinto beans.) Place the pie pan in the oven and bake at 375*F/191*C for about 10 minutes, or until the crust has the same coloring as pictured below.

Toss the apples with the sugar, cornstarch, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon juice, and butter.

Fill the pie shell with the apple mixture.

Roll out the remaining dough 1/8 in/3 mm thick, and cut the dough into 1 in/24 mm wide strips.

Place the strips in a crisscross pattern over the filling. Crimp the edges to seal.

Bake on a sheet pan in a 375*F/191*C oven until the filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Add a scoop of ice cream.

Enjoy!

My First Cooking Competition

I grew up on a farm. I lived with my mom, her parents, my older sister, and my younger brother. My Grandfather is a hard-working man, and has always been the fatherly figure in my life. When I came home from school, and I didn't have any homework, I would help my Grandfather in whatever way I could. Splitting fire wood, bailing hay, building things, taking other things apart, and cutting grass were some of the chores I had. It wasn't just me, it was the whole family. We had to work together to survive. We did. And we still do.

photo credit: cvanstane via photopin cc

Growing up, my mother was a terrible cook. Good thing my family had my Grandmother, because she is a terrific cook! I'm not quite sure how old I was, but I remember telling my Grandfather that I could not help him because I was helping my Grandmother in the kitchen. And he was OK with that. So, I started spending more time in the kitchen, learning from and helping my Grandmother.

photo credit: Island Vittles via photopin cc

When I was 14 years old I signed up for a 4-H cooking project. This project entailed about three months of preparation, before the actual competition. During this time I practiced making apple pies and serving the pie to my family. They gave me good feedback; sharing with me what they liked and didn't like about the pie and my service. After making and serving three pies to the family, I finally had the skills and knowledge to make the perfect apple pie for my first cooking competition.

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On the day of the competition, I woke up early and started making my pie. When the pie was finished baking, my mom drove me to the competition. When we arrived, the director informed me when I would need to present my project to the judge and which table I would be using. I waited anxiously until it was my turn, and then I began to set up my table. I laid down a red and white checkered table cloth. I laid out the plate, a cloth napkin, silverware, and two glasses (one filled with apple juice and the other was filled with milk). All of these items had an apple design on them somewhere. Once the table was set, I went back to the waiting area to get my pie. It was in a ceramic pie dish with a lid, and there were apple designs around the rim. The judge came over and took a seat at my table. I introduced myself and answered some questions that she had. She told me that everything on the table was beautifully placed, and she liked the apple theme I incorporated into every piece.

photo credit: PetitPlat - Stephanie Kilgast via photopin cc

When I took the lid off of the pie dish, everyone in the room gasped; no one in the room had ever seen a more beautiful, perfectly cooked apple pie. The golden brown crisscrossed crust was absolutely perfect, and it complimented the table cloth nicely. Everyone could see the apple/cinnamon mixture through the openings in the crust. And they could smell it, too! The judge was in awe from both the sight and smell of my pie, but the real test was how well she liked the taste. I cut a nice sized piece of pie, plated it, and served it to her. I slowly backed away from the table and, again, anxiously awaited her judgement. She loved it! At the award ceremony, I was awarded the 1st place blue ribbon. And with that came a chance to compete at the State Fair cooking competition. I was on cloud nine!

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A few days later I had to make a decision, one of critical importance. I had to choose to cook at the State Fair or stay home and play high school freshman football. I stayed home because I thought I would get made fun of by my teammates if I had to tell them (and the coach) I missed the game because I was baking at a fair. Football is a team sport, and when I looked at it as a choice between my teammates and myself, it was a no-brainer for me. At this time in my life, one of the quotes that made the most sense to me was, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” So, I chose to sacrifice my individual desire of winning a blue ribbon in cooking at the State Fair, for the needs of my teammates. They needed me to kick some ass on the football field. And I did.

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Who knows how I would have done at the State Fair; it’s anyone’s guess. But I’ve felt proud of myself, over the years, for winning the chance to compete at the state level.