To Peel or not to Peel Apples for Pie

[BakerAunt]

At the farmers' market on Tuesday, I bought a bag of organic apples (Redfree) that are supposed to be good for apple pie. In looking around, I realized that I do not have any idea where my pie cookbooks are in my boxes of many books. They were supposed to stay in the front. I will continue to look for them today, but I may need to move on to recipes from what I have on hand--standard Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens, KAF baking books, and a lot of cooking magazines.

I found a "No-Peel" Apple Pie recipe in a 2002 special issue, Comfort Cooking Recipes, from Better Homes and Gardens. I've always peeled the apples for apple pie, but of course the peel includes nutrients and fiber that would then be lost. It would save time not to peel apples.

What do people think?

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[skeptic7]

I've always peeled the apples for apple pie and breads even when the recipe says its not necessary. Peeled apples are easier to cut, and many bruises are just under the skin and easier to see and removed from peeled apples.
I hope you enjoy your apples. What do they taste like.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't care for the texture of apple skins in a pie, so I always peel and core them.

One of the vendors at the local Sunday farmer's market was hoping to have some winesap apples this month, those are my absolute favorite pie apples. I peel, core and slice them, pre-cook the filling, then freeze it. So, any time I want an apple pie, I get some filling out of the freezer and make pie dough in the evening and I'm ready to assemble it the next day.

[BakerAunt]

Hmm. Peeling them seems to be the way to go. I do have my KAF recipe for The Best Apple Pie. I also did copy the French Apple Pie recipe from Bernard Clayton's book into my frequently used recipes, although it uses Granny Smith's. I'll let my husband decide which recipe he would prefer.

[Mike Nolan]

I set it up as a production line. I wash, peel, core and cut the apples a few at a time, throwing them in a big pot, then I cook the filling using the recipe I got at SFBI. I can prep around 25 pounds of apples in about an hour, less if they're on the small side. I've learned the hard way that I need to wear an apron when doing this, I've ruined several t-shirts by wearing them while peeling apples. When I'm done, there's a brown apple stain on them that just doesn't come out.

Granny Smith is my 4th choice for pie apples. If I can get Winesap, they're #1, then Braeburn, then Yellow Delicious (if fresh, they don't store well.) I've tried about a dozen other varieties, none of them were as good. (I wish the folks at U of Minnesota who developed the HoneyCrisp and SweeTango apples would come up with a pie apple, those are great eating apples, OK for caramel apples, but not very good when baked, the cell size is too large.)

Granny Smith is kind of a frustrating apple. Most of the ones in stores are picked when they're only about half-ripe, so they store well, but that affects their taste and structure. If you can find some that are riper, they'll start to show some red blush on them, those are far better pie apples.

I did get some apples of an unknown variety some years back. They were small, a bit lumpy, but made a fantastic pie! Unfortunately, the grower didn't know the variety, he said the tree was already on the farm when he bought it years ago. And I haven't seen him back at the farmer's market with them since that year, either. :sigh:

What I have learned about apples and the farmer's market is, if you find one you like, BUY AS MUCH OF IT AS YOU CAN!

[BakerAunt]

Since Wednesday, we have been down to one refrigerator. The energy inefficient one in the garage was picked up by the power company (which gave us a $50 credit). Today, we are supposed to get some help to move the energy efficient one we brought here. It will go into the apartment, and we will then have two until around March--which is the earliest our contractor is going to be able to start the house remodeling and complete re-do of the kitchen. We will go down to one refrigerator at that point, as the almond side-by-side will also become part of the power company's rebate program. (There is a limit of two, and they must be plugged in, running, and used to store food.) When the kitchen is finished, I'll put a new refrigerator in there, and we will be a happy two-refrigerator family again.

The upshot is that I have to be careful how much I freeze for now. I've thought of canning apple pie filling. The problem is that my husband blithely moved the canning stuff to the back of the room where we have most of our boxes piled. I hope the apple pie inspires him to help me move some things.

[BakerAunt]

I used a recipe from Baking Illustrated, with 1/3 less sugar and double the cinnamon (from 1/4-1/2 tsp.), along with nutmeg, allspice, and a bit of salt.

I realized this morning that what I thought was pastry flour was actually Bob's Red Mill unbleached, extra-fine cake flour (label had come off). I've had to move flours around to smaller containers with the move, and with the refrigerator switch, so the mistake got made. It was a wonderful dough to roll and shape.

Additional comment: The crust was surprisingly flakey, while perhaps not as light as pastry flour would have made it. My husband and I both like it.

The Redfree apples did indeed make a good pie, although as I expected, there was a bit of an air pocket in the center. I had tasted a bit of the juice that was dribbling out last night when I removed the pie from the oven, and these are indeed wonderful apples that did well with the lower amount of sugar. I was disappointed that the vender was not at the farmers' market this morning, as he said they would be. I had planned to buy more of the apples and freeze some as pie filling and some as applesauce.

There was another vender selling Gala apples, but why bother? I need to find a "You-Pick" orchard that has good pie apples.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: corrected sugar amount

[Italiancook]

Tomorrow or Monday, I'm going to make KAF's Apple Cake. Went to the market today to look for baking apples. They had Granny Smith, which I didn't buy thinking they'd be too sour for cake. Pink Lady, Gala & Fuji were my other choices. No Winesap, which I wanted, but I haven't seen a Winesap in decades. I came home with some Gala's & Fuji's. Wasn't sure which to gamble on. Now that I see your comment about Gala apples for pies, BakerAunt, I will use Fuji's and hope for the best. Would y'all have chosen the Granny Smith's? If you think I should use Granny Smith's, I'll send my husband on a mission for them. Having grown up on an orchard, I know it's important to use the right apple for baking. It's just that none of the varieties I grew up with are sold around here.

My mother always used Winesaps for pies. I used to use McIntosh's to make applesauce, but haven't seen a McIntosh in stores this century, so I quit making applesauce.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Italiancook.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: I've not tried baking with Galas. My comment was more because if I go to the farmers' market, I really want something I cannot find in the supermarket. I also do not prefer the taste of Gala apples when eaten raw. When I'm baking an apple cake, I usually choose Braeburn. It does not get mushy, and has a good taste when baked. However, if I could get Winesaps, I'd use them. I've also had a Holly apple that was quite nice for baking.

I make my applesauce with Granny Smith's, but as Mike notes, and as Cass has told us, it is even hard to get a good Granny Smith apple. I've decided that I need to branch out to other apples.

The Redfree that I got at the farmers' market is a new variety for me. I checked it out, and it was introduced in 1981, a project of Purdue and University of Illinois. I'd not heard of them before.

Our big problem is that the apple producers assume that no one bakes, and therefore there is no need to produce baking apples. I told my husband that we need to locate an orchard, even if it is a bit of a drive, so that I can get some good baking apples.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

I haven't seen a Winesap apple at a grocery store in decades, either. I'm fortunate that a local grower has a few trees. I've heard some growers in Michigan still have them.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for clarifying your comment, BakerAunt. I know there used to be a working orchard in Indiana. I'm not so sure they'd have a website, so if you can't find one, you may want to start asking produce managers and the farmers at the market.

[RiversideLen]

I might be in the minority on this as I've heard people say McIntosh are not good for baking but I love them in pie. I like Macs mixed with Granny Smiths. Also like Golden Delicious.

[Mike Nolan]

I've used Macintosh, it's OK but not my favorite pie apple. I bought a few pounds of Apollo apples at the farmer's market today, not a variety I'm familiar with. The wiki chart Apples says it is an eating apple, but it says that about Winesap, too, and I know it is a great pie apple. I tried eating one, I think it'll be a better pie apple than an eating apple. So I'll be making an apple pie tomorrow. (Pie dough is made and resting in the fridge overnight.)

[BakerAunt]

There used to be a local apple orchard on the east side of the lake, across the road, according to my husband, called Bigley's. He remembers going and the wonderful smell of apples. However, it closed before I started coming here thirteen years ago. I think that there is one out towards Logansport. However, we plan to go to the Covered Bridge Festival in mid-October, so I will look to see if there are any orchards along the way. We also might make a road trip to Michigan, so that is also a possibility.

I'm not having a lot of success with googling u-pick apple orchards.

A couple of years ago, my husband had to travel through Champaign-Urbana on a research trip, and I told him to stop at the orchard outside the city. It was very crowded that weekend, so he did not pick but just bought a couple of bags of different apples. I made an excellent pie from the ones designated for baking, but I do not recall what kind they were, and it was before I was keeping a baking log and doing the "What Did You Bake?" thread.

[Italiancook]

https://www.orangepippin.com/orchards/united-states/indiana

BakerAunt, I found the above link by searching Indiana orchards. There's a tab with a map and another with a list of the orchards' names and locations. Hope this helps.

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