Apple pie baked… how?

In a paper bag.

And why?

Proponents say it yields a gorgeous flaky crust, and perfectly cooked filling.

True? Well, it worked for me; but I’ll let you be the judge…

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Wouldn’t you love to pull this stunning apple pie out of your oven in less than an hour, start to finish?

Impossible, you say?

Au contraire – your grandma could have done it. That is, if you had a grandma like mine, with a big chest freezer full of unbaked pies.

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Is there any (non-chocolate) dessert so compelling as a slice of warm apple pie, topped with vanilla ice cream?

Is there any baking challenge so daunting, so fraught with anxiety, so filled with high expectations (and so liable to shipwreck on the rocky shores of failure) as apple pie?

Methinks not.

Mealsothinks fear of apple pie is totally unfounded.

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Apple Slab.

Fairly rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

CLUNK.

I doubt anything I’ve ever baked has a less compelling name. But truth be told, it wasn’t the name that attracted me. It was an email from a reader wanting to re-create something his grandmother had made decades ago. And since I’m a complete sucker for old-time recipes, I took the bait.

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Necessity is the mother of invention. And nowhere is this truer than in the King Arthur test kitchen.

I recently watched a couple of my fellow bakers struggle to create Tarte Tatin – France’s classic apple tart – with a perfectly caramelized sugar sauce, and crisp, flaky crust.

While Andrea and Liz had nailed the caramel, they were still trying to figure out the best way to produce a crisp crust underneath that liquid caramel. (more…)

See that pie? The one above, the first thing your eyes were drawn to when you opened this page?

I made that pie. And I got the highest compliment on it from Halley, our King Arthur Web director.

Halley: Who made that pie in the kitchen?

Me: I did.

Halley: You’re kidding! I thought Sue made it.

Me: Yeah, really… (more…)

Do you know what “off the wall recipes” are? Now, don’t get all excited thinking you’re going to read about chocolate papaya muffin tops or fennel sardine apricot bread. No, I’m talking about the stack of recipes I’ve clipped together and hung on the pegboard next to my work station in the King Arthur test kitchen. These are recipes I make over and over again– (more…)