Reprinted from Boston.com
So a cold wind blew in last week, and like a dumb blonde turns toward the nearest guy, it made me want to make apple pie.
I’m not much of a baker, but I have a few confections in my repertoire, and apple pie is what I make this time of year. I’ve been using the same, all-butter pie crust recipe for 20 years.
Every fall, I pull out my Joy of Cooking and take my crust recipe for a spin like a kid with a new two-wheeler. It’s always a ride because I never know if the crust is going to come together well or not. As simple as crust is – flour, butter (or another fat), salt, and water, it’s finicky.
I’d read several good crust recipes over the previous couple weeks and considered trying one of them, but I didn’t want to abandon the “flour paste method” I use for my buttery crust. I just wanted to figure out how to make it more tender. And I found the answer in an article in Cooks Illustrated.
For those who may not know the magazine, its articles are written by a staff of writer-cooks who perfect recipes in a large test kitchen in Brookline. (The company also has a TV show.) They do a crazy amount of cooking – like making 150 (seriously) versions of a dish — to isolate all aspects of a recipe and find solutions to every possible less-than-perfect outcome. And they solved their major crust problems with vodka.
Vodka!
This is the deal: water and flour create gluten, a protein that forms stretchy fibers. A pie crust needs gluten, but too much makes it tough. So to keep crusts tender, many recipes use as little water as possible, even though too little liquid makes doughs hard to roll out without tearing or sticking.
Enter vodka, which is 40 percent alcohol, a liquid that doesn’t cause gluten to form. It does, however, add the wetness that makes dough pliable and easier to work. And the vodka, the article promised, was undetectable in the pie because it vaporizes in the oven.
So I made a pie with my regular recipe, but I increased the liquid from four tablespoons to six, using half water and half vodka.
And the pie was delicious and the top crust was perfect. The bottom crust, however, was slightly tough – because I hadn’t rolled it out large enough to be able to crimp it closed over the top crust. This caused the filling to bubble over and drip down the inside edge of the pan wetting the outside bottom crust while it was cooking.
So, I got the vodka out again…
And, the second pie was pretty darn tender with that buttery flavor I love. And although it wouldn’t win a beauty contest, it was delicious enough that friends and family felt like they were having a real treat when they ate it.
As they say, cooking is an art, baking a science and…. eating pie is good.
Double 9″ pie crust dough using the flour paste method
Stir into a bowl and mix:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Remove 1/3 cup of this mixture and place it in a small bowl or cup. Stir into it, to form a smooth paste:
6 tablespoons of half vodka and half water.
Set it aside.
Next cut into the remaining flour mixture with a pastry blender, fork, or your hands until the flour looks like a bowl of white balls the size of small peas:
2/3 cup room temperature butter
Next stir the flour paste into the dough. Work it with your hand until it is well incorporated and the dough becomes a ball. Do not over work the dough or it becomes very tough.
Divide dough into two balls.
Spread two large pieces of waxed paper on the counter, sprinkle them with flour, and roll out each of the two balls of dough. Flour both the dough and the rolling pin as needed.
Drape one of the sheets of dough over a 9″ pie pan, waxed paper side facing up. (This prevents the crust from ripping when you pick it up.) Then tear the wax paper off in strips.
Fill the bottom crust with apple filling (see below).
Drape the top crust over the pie and crimp the edges all around, cutting off excess, if needed, or patching places that need a bit more dough to be able to crimp the top and bottom crusts together.
Use a sharp knife to cut vents in the top crust in a star like design.
Filling
Cut 5 or 6 cups of tart apples into thin crescents.
Add the following to the bowl of cut apples:
1/2 – 2/3 cup white or brown sugar (to taste).
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Bake in a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake 35-45 minutes until golden brown.