How to make apple pie...?

[aimeecc]

I have my Mom's recipe for apple pie. Its easy... 6 Granny Smith apples peeled, pared, and sliced, arranged in a pie shell. Sprinkle 1/2 c sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon mix over the apples.... Mix 1/2 c sugar, 2/3 flour and cut 1/3 c butter into the flour & sugar mix. Sprinkle that over the apples.... bake 425 for 40-50 minutes.

My problem is EVERY time I make this the pie is soggy. Tastes great. But soggy. Really soggy. Like 1/2 inch of water in the pie soggy. This past weekend I poked a hole in the pie tin after baking to let the water drain.

What am I doing wrong? I've tried different apples... I tried slicing thinner... help!

[lookout123]

You've forgotten the part about removing from the premises all horny teenage boys who watch too many movies.

[Cloud]

I've never been able to get apple pie right, either. Are you pre-baking the pie shell?

Save your strength and buy Mrs. Smith's or similar frozen. Perfect every time.

[bbro]

Do you let it sit before you cut it? This is huge! If I don't let it sit until it cools down, there is a huge amount of juice. Do you pat dry the apples before you put it in the crust to bake?

Just a couple suggestions. I think homemade pie is the best thing....even though I never eat it. When at all possible, I make it from scratch (except for the crust. Haven't got that much expertise yet)


Just curious, though, what kind of crust are you using? Just trying to figure out how you would poke a hole through the bottom of the pan. I also wouldn't drain it if I were you. If people like it the way it is, don't mess with good pie

[Cloud]

or, soak the apples first in salted water to draw out excess moisture?

I have no idea if that would work, btw.

[aimeecc]

I am lazy and used Marie Calendars frozen pie crust - so it comes in a thin tin pan, easy to poke a small hole into. I've tried making my own, but it takes too long and never looks as nice. I add the apples while the shell is still frozen.
I put the apples in a colander to drain - I'll have to try to pat them dry next time. And yes, I'm impatient and cut into the pie before it cools...
I drain it because I worry the pie will go bad (mold, mildew) quickly if its soaking in juice. And the pie still tastes good

[Cloud]

here are some further tips I found via the magic of the Internet:

Hard to say without knowing your recipe, but a couple things that come to mind are to be sure and refrigerate the dough crust after rolling it out to help firm it up, and also (you aren't going to like this if you want fresh hot apple pie, but it's a fact of pie-making-life) let it cool for a couple hours on a rack to let those juices firm up. You might also try a layer of corn flakes at the bottom of your crust.

> In addition to what Scott said re: allowig the pie to cool, I would simply double the amount of flour that you blend in with the apples. Some apples contain more juice than others, and it may simply be that your are juicier!. As an aside, I like to use a combination of apples. Macintosh or Gravenstein have a great apple flavor. Blend in a couple of Granny Smith or Pippin for tartness.

and here's an article on the topic: http://www.here-now.org/features/200...Cooks_SO05.pdf ETA: tho doesn't seem to be a complete article.

[bbro]

I make my mother's recipe as well and there is always some sort of liquid after baking. I usually store it in the fridge after the first cut and have never had a problem with it going bad. I usually leave it out of the fridge to cool.

All the years that my mother made the pie, there was always extra juice. I am pretty sure the only sure fire way to get rid of it is to use dried apples or something and I am guessing that it doesn't taste too good. Just remember, apples are juicy when raw, it only makes sense that the juice would come out with baking.

Also, I would suggest checking the directions on the crust you use. Maybe it is from the crust defrosting in the oven.

Al in all, I wouldn't worry about it if it tastes good.

[ZenGum]

Totally without knowledge, experience, or research, I see two ways to approach the problem.
1. reduce the amount of juice - drain, pat-dry the apples. Maybe even pre-bake them a little.
2. keep the juice but add a thickener - cornflour or something similarly starchy, maybe even pectin which is used to make jam (jelly to you Americans) set. Letting it set would be necessary for this.

Lateral solution. Make it just as it is, but call it "Apple-stew pie". Define it as perfect. If it tastes good ... why not?

[glatt]

I'd make apple crisp instead. Tastes better and is easier to make. Outstanding with ice cream.

[busterb]

1 can apple pie filling, 1 crust, bake. And boy does it suck, compared to homemade. IMHO

[Aliantha]

just sprinkle more flour into the apples when you lay them out. Also, remember that sugar turns into a liquid when it's heated. You could use less sugar if you've got nice tart apples. Instead of white sugar, try using brown sugar. It goes more syrupy when it melts, thus not causing so much excess moisture.

Another way to cook an apple pie is to stew the apples first and thicken with regular flour or cornflour. The only problem with cornflour as a thickener in this process is that once it's re-cooked, it loses some of it's thickening power, so if possible, either reduce the liquid content in the apples, then the thickening is only required for the smallest amount of moisture, or get prebaked pie crust so that you can simply add the apple mixture, then put a crust on top and then grill it. That way you don't reheat the whole inside of the pie. Just the top.

All in all though, I think you'll find the brown sugar the way to go. Because it's less refined, it's sweeter and you need less anyway, thus less moisture.

[busterb]

I think you'll find the brown sugar the way to go.

Not a cheap shot! And brown sugar is? In USA, just sugar with molasses added for color.

[monster]

use real dough (very easy) and blind bake the crust. precook the apples, then put apples in pie, add top and bob's your uncle jim. So simple a 10 year old can do it. In fact, our 10-year-old does. That's one of her "jobs".

oh and leave out the cinnamon because it's nasty.

[Aliantha]

you seriously don't have brown sugar? wow. I'll see if I can find some info on it. You must have brown sugar. how else do you make a propper creme brulee?