APAW 1 - Apple Pie

I made an apple pie yesterday. I rolled out my first pie crust in 4 years. And making crust is stressful. there are millions of recipes and like with most 'commodity' recipes, i look to Cooks' Illustrated. I won't print an apple pie recipe since those are also easily found.

They had a couple great tips:

1. it's better to have a slightly tacky (or wet) dough since you can add flour
2. use a tapered rolling pin with a clockwise rotation
3. chill rolled out bottom crust while rolling out the top crust

Here are my great tips

1. use about 3/4 the apples any recipe calls for - it's always too much
2. use a lot of "table" flour to keep your dough from sticking
3. replace water with apple juice concentrate (learned this from someone talking about Alton Brown)
4. allow your pie to cool for 6 hours!

I chose the apples I like the best:

1. 1 1/2 pounds Honeycrisp
2. 1/2 pound Pink Lady
3. 1/2 pound Mutsu

After eating a slice, my wife (also my harshest critic) found me cleaning the bathroom and said, "That is the best pie I've ever eaten. Any pie. Anywhere."

So far - APAW is a success. Next MEYER LEMON TART. Hopefully less stress.