Sheffield Lake's United Church of Christ Apple Pies

 My friend invited me (and of course I included Robert for peeling)

 to come and help the ladies of the UCC to make apple pies they sell.  About 5 wonderful friends of mine attend this church and do all things they can to keep this church in the black.  It was a joy to be with them for 2 days and the pies look amazing.  The pies are frozen and sold and then baked by the buyers for Thanksgiving.  They are mounded and filled with the apples.  This year however, they only made over 100 pies vs the usual 200+ as in the past.

This recipe came from a VERY VERY VERY old recipe from a cookbook this church assembled and it's the same recipe these ladies use every year.  No one can get the cookbooks anymore ... yes it's that old ... but Lynette said I could have the recipe.

FOR 5 PIES

Seasoning mixture

3 C. White sugar

1 C brown sugar

1-1/4 cup flour

1 T cinnamon

Sift all ingredients together so it is well blended.

This is Beverly House mixing the  ingredients on the first day

Apples

32 C sliced apples

Totally mix the sliced apples with the seasoning til each apple slice is covered with the mixture.

Linda Coleman brings in another huge pan of sliced apples from the men.

Crust

5lb +2 C flour

2 T salt

3 lb butter-flavored Crisco

3-1/4 C water

Create 10 oz balls

Line the pie tins (use foil pans)  with the crust...brush melted margarine (that is what they use) over the inside of the bottom crust.

 Lynette's daughter-in-law Stephanie coated the bottoms with the melted margarine as well as used a pizza crust press to flatten the pie dough. That took powerful strength to work the press.  To the right is Kathy Burrill who was an expert at sealing and crimping.  Lynette's daughter, Heather, who graduated with Dawn was the hand roller and she had the gift.  She also had a wooden circle the correct size for the top which she laid over the crust and cut around it.  PERFECT IN EVERY WAY.  Sadly I missed getting a pix of her. But on the 2nd day, she made a delicious soup for a lunch break.  The thing with the UCC ladies is that they always serve lunch or dinner at their service projects.

Mound the pie filling over each pan gently packing the apple slices.

  This is their fearless leader, Lynette Moore.  She can do everything and does everything. She's a mover and a shaker in the community, library, as well as her church.

Place about 2 T of margarine over the top by using your fingers to break off bits.

Place the top crust over the pie.  Moisten the endges and seal and then crimp the edges.

Store in a plastic bag and place in a pie box and freeze.

This is Mary Ruth Halas, who like me was a friend agreeable to help with the process.

DO NOT DEFROST THE PIE as no one wants a soggy pie.  PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 450.  When the oven comes to temperature, cut a few slits in the top crust.  Bake 25 minutes and then lower oven to 375 and bake for another 40-50 minutes..til the crust is golden brown and the apples are tender when pricked with a fork.

• Add a cookie sheet under the pie plate as it bakes to catch any drips.
• 
  
  If your crust begins to brown too much during baking, cover the top with foil and continue to bake until the apples are cooked through.

Bigger Bolder Baker Pie Crust

 PREP:  cube 1/3 of the butter and place in freezer for awhile.  place rest of cubed butter into the fridge til ready to use.

Ingredients

• 
  
  7 tablespoons (3 ½ oz/100g) cold butter, cubed
• 1 ⅓ cups (7½oz/213g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg yolk*
• 2- 3 tablespoons cold water

• Instructions

  • Put flour, butter, icing sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse until fine crumbs form. [If making this by hand, combine the butter with the dry ingredients with your fingers until you reach the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs.]
  • Mix together the egg yolks and water and add to the dry ingredients.
  • Pulse until a dough forms, around 10 seconds. [If making by hand, knead until the dough just comes together into a ball and there's nothing left in your bowl.]
  • Wrap the pastry in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax before rolling.
  • Roll on a floured surface to fit your tin or pie dish. A good thickness is 1/4 inch.
  • Bake at 180C/350F depending on how you are using it, as per recipe.
    TIPS

    • Add liquid bit by bit. All flour absorbs water differently, so you might need less or more. You don’t want wet pastry.
    • Leaving the egg out — Replace the egg with 2 tablespoons of cold water. Egg makes it richer but if you don’t eat eggs, use water.
    • Don’t freak out — If you think you pastry is too dry, keep on bringing it together with your fingers. Take care not to add too much liquid.
    • Refrigerate before rolling — Wrap up and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. This will help the gluten relax and it will be easier to roll.
    • Freeze the pie crust — Freeze for up to 8 weeks. Roll out your pie crust and place it in the tin. When ready to use take out of the freezer and bake directly from frozen. If you are using it for a pie that normally needs to be baked blind just bake it as is, with no beads or beans. Just bake the crust from frozen, eliminating the task of blind baking ever again. Yay!!!
    • Using for savory — Leave out the sugar and this pie works great for savory pies also, like pot pie.

    Why Your Pie Crust Shrinks

    You are not alone here! This is a really common problem and, luckily, the solution is simple. The answer is too much WATER! Adding too much water to your pastry will cause your pastry to shrink. Think about it! When water heats up it evaporates. So in terms of pastry, that means when you go into the oven, the heat makes the water in the crust evaporate, which in turn causes it to shrink. Makes sense now, right?

    The solution is to just add the minimum amount of water that you need to pull your dough together into a ball. If it seems like it might be a tad dry don’t freak out and lash in water. A fun fact about pastry is that it expresses water once it rests, so it will actually get wetter as it sits in the fridge for its resting period.

    
    

    Avoiding A Soggy Pie Crust

    This is not something you have done wrong, it just depends on what type of pie you are making. When it comes to how to make a pie crust, Quiche, Apple Pie, and pies with wetter filling can have a tendency to have a soggy bottom. If you want to avoid this, you can blind bake your pie crust. This simply means laying parchment in your pie crust and filling with dried beans or lentils to weigh it down as it bakes. Bake it until partially good (or fully cooked depending on the pie you are making). This will give you a crisper pastry in the end.

flaky pie crust

 Laura Traxler

My Mom gave me this recipe ages ago, it’s the only one I make. 

This really is easy! So tender & flaky. 

Crisco Pie Crust

1 1/3 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. solid Crisco

5 to 7 or 8 T. ICE water

Preheat oven 425º

Combine flour & salt, cut in Crisco with pastry blender until uniform. Add ice water one T. at a time, stirring with a fork. Once dough starts to come together (not sticky) pat into a disc. Place on wax paper that has flour on it, roll out with extra flour on top. Once rolled, carefully roll back onto rolling pin and roll over pie dish, or just take the wax paper and flip it over the pie plate. Try and only roll the dough once as it will get tough after the first try. Prick the all over with a fork.

Bake 15 to 25 minutes until brown. Keep an eye on it. Cool. 

Enough for one open “pie” recipe (cream pies or tarts). Can be doubled for fruit pies.

Pastry (Shortcrust) in food processor

Shortcrust Pastry (Food Processor Method)

prep 10 mins

inactive 1 hour

total 1 hour, 10 mins

author marie asselin, foodnouveau.com

yield 1 crust (enough for 1 large tart or pie, 1 galette, or 18 mini tarts)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (4 oz/113 g/125 ml) unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp (1 ml) kosher salt, or sea salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) ice water

Instructions

Cut the butter into small cubes and arrange on a small plate. Freeze for 20 minutes.

Add the flour and salt to a food processor, then pulse to combine. Add the butter and process for 10 continuous seconds, until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.

Add the egg and process for 5 seconds. Add the ice water and process for 20 seconds. The dough should now start clumping together. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface. The mixture will easily hold together when pressed. Using your hands, gather the dough into a ball then flatten into a disk, kneading it as lightly as possible.

If you’re making shortcrust pastry right before you need to use it, gather it into a disk, set it on a lightly floured surface, and roll it out to the required size. Ease into to a pie or tart pan, lay flat on a baking sheet, or cut out and fit into muffin pans if making tartlets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Use as instructed by the recipe.

You can alternatively wrap the ball of shortcrust pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 3 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Bring refrigerated shortcrust pastry back to room temperature at least 30 minutes before rolling. Thaw frozen shortcrust pastry overnight in the refrigerator, then bring back to room temperature at least 30 minutes before rolling.

VARIATIONS

• Whole-wheat shortcrust pastry: Substitute one-third of the all-purpose flour for whole-wheat flour.
• Sweet shortcrust pastry for desserts: Add 1 tablespoon (15 ml) granulated sugar to the flour mixture
  

Easy and excellent pie crust

ANOTHER RECIPE FOR THE GARDENING NEIGHBOR, MARCIA HASSEL

Combine
2 sticks butter
1 cup butter flavored Crisco

Cut into the dry ingredients:
3-1/2 cup flour
1/2 t. salt
1 T sugar

Add 1/2 cup whole milk (Marcia uses half and half) as needed.

Do not overwork the dough

Refrigerate dough overnight.  Then roll into 3 crusts.  Fill and bake as desired.