Baking Fruit

[qoph]

Recently I made both a rubarb crisp and an apple pie and both of them turned out perfect, except the filling. Each time the fruit was still crunchy and the insides were WAY to watery. I could pour the water out and have cups of it. I followed the recipes exactly.

What secret am I missing or what steps should I improve on? I have an electric oven, so if that changes anything please let me know.

Any help would be much appriciated.

[JayBassin]

It would help if you posted the recipe you followed. Only guessing here, but if you mix the fruit with the sugar too long in advance, the fruit will exude liquid. If you don't have enough starch to compensate, the filling would be too thin. However, I don't think you'd get "cups" of liquid. Do you add any liquid to the filling?

You might peruse the new thread HERE on pie fillings for further advice.

Edited August 30, 2005 by JayBassin (log)

[ChristyMarie]

Did you use super fresh fruit? I've found that fresh fruit has a LOT more juice in it than store bought.

Additionally, I always add instant tapioca to help soak up extra liquid.

[rickster]

Some apple varieties give up much more liquid than others. Crunchy filling suggested it was baked for too short a period or at too low a temperature. You might need to check the accuracy of the oven. More detail on the recipe/steps you took would be a big help.

[jsolomon]

Something really doesn't seem right with that. It sounds like you were baking a 10-inch pie with 8-inch directions...

[chiantiglace]

actually. A lot of fillings i would mix with the sugar/salt to bring out a lot of the water overnight. The scoop the filling out leaving excess water behind using the "now softer/slightly broken down" filling in my shell and baking. Some fruit like blueberries i many even simmer in a heavy saucepan before baking in its shell. Fruit generally takes longer to cook/soften that a crust takes to brown.

[qoph]

Crust

1 1/3 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 c. oil

3 tbsp. milk

Combine flour and salt in bowl.

Blend oil and milk in bowl.

Add to flour mixture.

Stir with fork until forms large clumps.

Press into ball.

Flatten to form 5-6 inch "pancake".

Roll between sheets of wax paper.

Peel off top sheet.

Flip into 9 inch pie pan.

Remove other sheet.

Press dough into pie plate.

Trim and flute.

Filling

5 apples, sliced

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp flour

2 tsp cinnamon.

Topping

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

3Tbsp applesauce or plain yoghurt (both work well)

Toss the filling ingredients together and layer in the pie crust. Combine

the dry topping ingredients and blend in the applesauce with your fingers

until crumbly. Drop evenly over top of pie. Bake at 425F 10 minutes,

reduce heat to 350F, and cintinue baking 35-40 minutes. Serves 6-8.

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thats the recipe, i used yogurt for the topping and it was absolutely terrible, and it never got crumbly as it said it would, it was rather sticky actually.

[chiantiglace]

well, yogurt doesnt have as much moisture as applesauce.

Also, doens sound like anything is wrong with the recipe. This sounds like an apple crisp. Since its only ten minutes baking time I hope your slicing your apples rather thin. This isnt like a pie that has apples pre-cooked over the stove in nice 1/4 inch slices. These slices should probably be the width of medium sized cardboard. This will decrease the cook time by a considerable amount. Also if you used an apple like red delicous its going to have a much different effect than an apple like a granny smith, or prety much any green apple.

A nice stiff green apple is what you want, incase you didnt use that.

[JayBassin]

well, yogurt doesnt have as much moisture as applesauce.

Also, doens sound like anything is wrong with the recipe.  This sounds like an apple crisp.  Since its only ten minutes baking time I hope your slicing your apples rather thin.  This isnt like a pie that has apples pre-cooked over the stove in nice 1/4 inch slices.  These slices should probably be the width of medium sized cardboard.  This will decrease the cook time by a considerable amount.  Also if you used an apple like red delicous its going to have a much different effect than an apple like a granny smith, or prety much any green apple.

A nice stiff green apple is what you want, incase you didnt use that.

←

I agree that there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the recipe. Baking for a total of 45-50 minutes is about right. Chiantiglace must have overlooked the additional baking at a reduced temp. One Tbs of flour may be too little for a juicy apple, but ok for a Granny Smith if you didn't premix the sugar and let it stand too long. If you dumped the apple-sugar-flour-salt mix right into the crust just before topping and baking, and everything was dryish when it went into the oven, it's a mystery to me why you'd get several cups of liquid.

[qoph]

the mixture did not sit overnight, it went right in. the apples were yellowish red, though im not sure what kind. im not sure what size pan I used, it could have been a 10 inch, but it was the only one we had. it was also glass if that makes any difference.

[rickster]

Recipe sounds OK. Apples sound like they might be Royal Gala, which are OK but not great. I've made decent pies with them. Glass pan will heat up a little more slowly than metal but shouldn't be a problem. I'd still check the real oven temperature.