King Arthur Flour’s traveling baking demonstration last Saturday turned out to be  so much more than just a marketing event.  Expert KA owner/employee/expert bakers were on hand to answer any and all questions, and the demonstrations packed in quite a bit of practical, precise knowledge on pies, scones, and yeast breads.  Beaucoup door prizes and giveaways, ranging from bags of flour and flax meal to cookbooks, aprons, baking DVDs, and even a pair of Dansko shoes, went to many happy home bakers.  The first fifty attendees received free all-purpose flour, and every single person at both the morning and afternoon sessions got a “$10 off a $20 purchase” gift card, as well as coupons for flour, yeast and Vermont’s own Cabot Cheese.

Best of all, the demo inspired Mr. Bouillie to bake his very first, from-scratch apple pie.  He loves apple pie, and it’s not at the top of my personal preference list, so this was a golden (delicious) opportunity to eat his favorite pie, warm from the oven.    The Gala and Granny Smith pie turned out picture-perfect, as you can see, though he won’t be winning any speed awards:  right at three hours from start to popping it into the oven.  (And yes, he did make me promise to blog about his first pie before I could eat a piece of it!)

Along the way, he (mostly) remembered Frank from King Arthur’s many great suggestions (such as dividing the dough into disks and rolling the edges smooth to avoid ragged edges once the crust is rolled out, and glazing the pie with a little milk and applying sparkling sugar for a pretty top crust), though he learned quickly that pastry dough requires cool hands, nerves of steel, and good technique.

Hopefully, he’ll try pie making again soon, as I’d really like a crawfish pie or a chocolate cream pie.  Heck, I’d even eat another slice of warm apple, as long as I didn’t have to make it.