All-American Apple Pie
Posted by temofab on 28 November 2008 under Pies & Pastries, Thanksgiving | No Comments
An American classic! Delicious, double crusted, hot apple pie. Perfect for family get-togethers at holiday times. To really spoil yourself, throw a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream on top!
CRUST (recipe makes one double crust):
2 1/2 cups white flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold butter, broken into small pieces
5 tbsp. cold vegetable shortening
8 tbsp. ice water
- Measure the flour, sugar and salt togetherl. Stir to combine.
- Add the chilled butter pieces and shortening to the bowl. Cut them in with a pastry cutter or knife. Don’t over mix them.
- Add the ice water. Mix until the dough holds together (add a bit more water, if necessary).
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it together, then divide in half.
- Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour.
- Roll out one of the disks on a lightly floured surface until you have a circle that’s about 12 inches in diameter.
- Put the circle in a 9″ pie plate, trimming any extra dough from the edges with a sharp knife (parents only). Return it to the refrigerator until you are ready to make the pie.
- Add filling (see below)
- Roll out the second ball of dough and cover top. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together. cut a couple slits in the top.
FILLING
1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
8 medium sized apples (a medium apple = about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons margarine
- Heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Peel, core and slice the apples. Try to keep the size of the slices even.
- Mix sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl.
- Stir in apples.
- Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.
- Dot with margarine.
- Cover with top crust and seal the edges. Cut slits in the top.
- OPTIONAL: Cover edge with 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent too much browning.
- Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.
- Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.
Sweeny Todd’s Favorite Bakery?
Posted by ExtremeBaking on 4 October 2008 under Breads & Rolls | No Comments
Kittiwat Unarrom is an extreme baker. He bakes bread that realistically resembles body parts. He sells his bruised and battered heads, feet, and diverse internal organs at a bread shop in Thailand. It probably doesn’t matter how it tastes; one look at his work and you’ll lose your appetite.
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Kittiwat has a master’s degree in fine arts. Using his skills to make sculptures out of bread came naturally to him because his family ran a bakery. Sculpting gruesome body parts came naturally to him because… well, I can’t imagine. Maybe he’s a frustrated medical school reject. |
| As you can clearly see from these photos (ha!) the bread is made out of dough, raisins, cashews and chocolate. Here Kittiwat adds his own touch to the finished product: |  |
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Perhaps you don’t care whether it tastes great; perhaps you don’t want to look at it much less eat it. Well, even so, perhaps you can think of some folks who deserve a present like this? Bring some to their house as a dinner gift? (Bet you don’t get invited back.) |
| … but I digress.
Here are two finished examples of this finely crafted delicious bread, all wrapped and ready for you to purchase: |
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The World’s Largest Loaf of Bread
Posted by ExtremeBaking on 4 September 2008 under Breads & Rolls | No Comments
“The World’s Largest Loaf of Bread” is a steel and fiberglass structure, on display in Urbana, Ohio. The loaf used to stand vertically, but apparently that was too suggestive to be tolerated. Here’s a photo if it, lying behind one of the factory buildings:
It is part of an extensive collection of bread memorabilia owned by American Pan, a manufacturer of bread baking equipment. Extreme Bakers passing through Urbana won’t want to miss the accompanying Bread Museum.