This week's recipe

[madbaker]

In which the author tries a new dessert, a peach/raspberry custard pie; and discovers that pouring custard through the steam hole into a mostly-baked pie is more difficult than previously imagined.

It was tasty, though. Needed more peaches and a crispier crust. Oh, and somehow I have to generate room for the custard.

I'll probably try it again for the GSP barbecue Sunday.

What I'm reading: Peter F. Hamilton, The Reality Dysfunction, part 2

Comments

Re: funnels

[finickynarcane.livejournal.com]

Very strange. I once cooked an apple pie that was VERY tall. I hoped the crust would follow the apples down and they shrank and it never did. The pie was a bottom crust, a layer of apples, a huge layer of air and then the top crust. I don't know what I did.

levitating apple pie

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I've seen that morphology a lot in apple pies, so if you did something wrong, you're not alone.

But the real test is: did it taste good? If it did, you did not fail.

And if you really dislike the air pocket, you could fill it with whipped cream and say it was on purpose!

Re: levitating apple pie

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I'm going to opine (based on no hard knowledge on my part) that the cook-down time of apples is substantially longer than that of peaches and raspberries. That would allow the top crust to solidify in place before the fruit cooks down into mush, leaving an air pocket. Whereas the shorter cook-down time of peaches and other, softer fruits, causes the top crust to gradually sink down along with the fruit level.

My apple pies have always had air pockets, too.

Re: levitating apple pie

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I think it will depend on the apples, too, and the crust chemistry. I haven't made one for a long time, but I use butter, and my crusts don't stand up on their own. Crisco is recommended for flakiness, but I'd rather have good taste than flaky, so I disdain it. Possibly Crisco would encourage the crust to stand up more.

Re: levitating apple pie

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I dunno -- I tend to use butter crusts too, or occasionally half butter and half Crisco.

Must be the weather! 8)