I tried different processes, including blending the fats into the flour using a pastry blender, food processor and finally, have settled on just using my hands.
I've varied the fats I use, starting with shortening, then lard, then butter and shortening and finally settling on a lard and butter blend.
The filling for this pie was not my ideal choice. If I had my druthers it would have been filled with New York State Macintosh or Cortland apples, but alas, finding those in Minnesota isn't easy. I settled on a blend of Pink Lady (Organic from Chile), Golden Delicious (from Washington State) and due to the aroma alone, some Tentation Apples (from New Zealand). It's a worldly pie.
I made 2 pies, one as a backup just in case something went wrong.
Some things went wrong.
1. Just as I was getting ready to make my first pie, I reread the contest regulations. Good thing I did. Only disposable pans were permitted for entering. Ack! "Honey! I need you to run to the store!" I had him pick up some more organic flour as well. While there, he was such a sweety and bought me some organic butter. It has a darker color and richer aroma than the plain stuff. (And it costs twice as much. Wow.) I had already made the crust for one pie, so the second one was made using the organic butter. The moisture content of the dough made using the traditional vs. organic butter was a huge difference. I usually require 4-5 Tbsp of water for each batch. the organic butter batch required only 3 Tbsp, and even that felt like a lot.
2. It might be time to push potty training. My little girl was watching a movie (My neighbor Totoro) and when the movie was done she was playing with the dogs under the dining room table. I looked over for a moment to watch what she was doing and noticed that she had a bare bottom under her skirt. Uh oh. I tracked down the diaper which was in front of the sofa. The pee spot was all over the new leather sofa. I went right to the basement door and yelled, "Honey, I need a hand!" I threw the girl into the tub for her bath and he scrubbed the sofa.
3. I went to pull the kitchen scale out of the upper cabinet to see which dough half weighed more in each batch, and therefore would be used for the bottom half of the pie crust. I dropped it. It broke into several pieces. I nearly sobbed. Hubby heard the racket and for the third time this evening stepped in to help out, but I was beyond helping. I just moved forward without it.
4. Higher moisture content means shorter cooking time. There is some unpleasant browning around the very edges of the pie. I lost sleep trying to figure out which pie to enter, the uncharred crust with lesser quality ingredients, or the slightly overdone, higher quality pie. In the end I went with the better quality ingredients. I used to work as a tech in manufacturing, and the old, "S#!$ in, s#!$ out" policy kept ringing through my mind. It's a crude way of saying that the quality of your finished product is only as good as your inputs, so use the best inputs you can.
