Apple leather: I hate making it

[Darienne]

It's apple leather making time again.  And I hate making it.  I can't seem to get it spread evenly enough that the entire sheet dries evenly.  Almost all of it will be dry and one spot will not be dry and rip into removing the finished product nicely from the sheet.  Or I'll leave it all too long and get crispy shards in the end.   Some is under dried and some is over dried.   

 

Has anyone any clever hacks to help me get the sauce more evenly spread in the pan?  Oh, I do it in the oven.  Apple slices I do in both the oven and the dehydrator. 

 

(And we can't make all the apples into slices.  They are too wonky and mis-formed to put through the little apple corer/slicer and so they go right into sauce, unpeeled and uncored, and then into my food mill for finishing. )

 

Thanks for any help. 

[dcarch]

I do a quarter turn of the trays once in a while to give more even drying.

 

dcarch

[Darienne]

53 minutes ago, dcarch said:

I do a quarter turn of the trays once in a while to give more even drying.

 

dcarch

I can't do quarter turns on my trays, but I do half turns.  I suppose really I am just venting.  We can't like everything we have to do.  

[Darienne]

I suppose what I am searching for is some way to spread the applesauce more evenly.  Even spreading abilities have never been my forte.  

 

[dcarch]

27 minutes ago, Darienne said:

I suppose what I am searching for is some way to spread the applesauce more evenly.  Even spreading abilities have never been my forte.  

 

 

Actually, this has a possibility to work for you:

 

Go to youtube and search for "thin set tile laying".

 

You will see tools and how construction workers spread out thin set compound evenly for laying ceramic tiles.

 

dcarch

 

 

[teonzo]

Professionals use a tool called "raplette" (French term). This is the only occurrence on Amazon. I don't know if there is an English term for this tool, or if there are cheaper versions for home use.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Toliver]

Have you thought about something like a crepe spreader (click)? You wouldn't need the wooden crepe spatula.

On that linked-to page, there's a video on how to make crepes and shows how to use the spreader (go to :40 in the video).

Either that or buy a squeegee. 

[Darienne]

Thank you, thank you, thank you to @dcarch, @teonzo and @Toliver.  Showed the videos to Ed and he said...sure we can make one of those.  And I thought two sticks  for the sides and a third one to pull across.  Where has my brain been?

 

Back to apple leather...

 

[Darienne]

Just found a recipe for Apple Chips and I think that's my next foray.  No work at all.  And no checking back and forth either.