Need help on baking a pie

N

Nobuko

Cathlete
Hi all,

Lately I've been having a problem with apple pie. My pie tastes pretty good but just don't look right.... I started having a pocket between the filling and the top crust. Yes, I do I put a slit on the top crust but still get the pocket.... I don't pre-bake the apples and would prefer not to prebake if I can. My pie stays pretty tall (maybe 1"-1.5" from the top of the pie pan) before baking. Am I piling up these apples too high? Is the slit I make on the top crust too small? Please someone help me!
 
Nobuko,
There are probably two problems here, one more important than the other. If you only have one steam vent, you'll probably want at least 3, evenly spaced, vents because once your fruit starts to make juice and bubble up under the crust it can seal your vents shut. So you need backups.
The second, more serious problem, is that you aren't precooking your apples. You don't have to pre-bake them, but you do need to cook them on the stove top with a smidgen of apple juice/cider, cinnamon, flour, butter, and sugar. Not until they are soggy but unil they lose a little volume. What's happening is that your fruit is going through this same process, inside the pie, which means that as your fruit loses volume (as some of the water converts to steam and escapes through the vent--which incidentally probably means your vents are working just fine;-) ) So, as the fruit shrinks and settles as it cooks, it just naturally moves away from the top crust and there isn't anything that you can do to hold it there.
Even if you try a dutch crumb topping (which is my favorite topping to any pie) you'll end up with the same problem if you don't precook the fruit and pie filling will move down into the pan leaving a lot of crust.
Hope this helps,
Mattea
 
Mattea,
Thank you for your advise. Now I have a question though... If I have to precook these apples, I'm assuming that I need to cut down on the "baking time".... I've been baking a pie for about 45 min. How much baking time can I cut since these apples are cooked?
 
Nobuko,

Baking apple pies is one of my favorites.

I don't precook the apples either. I heap apples into the crust and then add the sugars and butter on top. I add a little corn starch to the flour sugar mix (about 2 tsp). For steam vents I lay out the top crust on my counter and use a cookie cutter to cut a large hole in the crust, I later creativily past the cut out back on the pie with butter before baking. I like to use a leaf shape cookie cutter.

crimp the sides of the crust and make some vents on the rim with a fork

Dave
 
Hi Heres my way and I've baked over 1 million apple pies ,Baker/pastry chef for 20 years LOL ... Anyway the best way is to make your crust .. Put in in the fridge ... Then prep your apples About 10 per pie . Then pile them in High... Very high ... Then Freeze it !!!! Use a glass pan !!! Then take it directly out of the freezer into the 325-350 degree oven ... Put tht slits in it before you freeze it . Put egg wash on top of it as you throw it in the oven ... It is done when its golden brown and its boiled for awhile about 1 .5 hrs !!! maybe two ... Good luck This works !!! Its MY secret !!! I dont give it out to often LOL LOL
 
Mary--
That's awesome advice! Thanks for the secret.
Nobuko, I would say you'll have to bake the pie for about 40-45 minutes still, in order for the crust to be done, but it also depends on the type of apple you use, how well they hold up under the heat. You'll have to keep an eye on it for first time as your oven will probably differ. Also, you'll need to use more apples than usual as precooking them will decrease the volume before they go into the crust.
Best,
Mattea
 
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