Why Apple Pie From A Bakery Always Tastes Better Than Homemade

With the exception of expert-level home bakers, plenty of goodies are typically just going to taste better when you leave them to the pros. The good old American icon, apple pie, is a fantastic example, even as simple as it seems to toss together in your own kitchen. An expertly prepared pie's apples just seem juicier, its crust more golden, and its whole composition as polished as it is delicious. But that doesn't mean you can't nab some of those same qualities for your next effort. Chowhound sliced into the details with Michelle Palazzo, executive pastry chef at Frenchette in New York City to find out how.

"The best way to elevate your apple pie is to use high quality ingredients," Palazzo says. Fortunately, while the best apples aren't bottom of the barrel cheap, they won't rival anything like the super expensive chocolate varieties you might see used in some other desserts. "I look for crisp, dry, and firm apples, something like a cosmic crisp or a honeycrisp," Palazzo says. She also mixes the apple filling in advance and lets it sit overnight so the apples can expel some of their water. "This creates a more apple-forward pie filling and helps prevent a soggy bottom crust," she explains.

Michelle Palazzo tells us she counts the crust as the pie's premier component, and since said crust is mostly made of fat and flour, you could also consider butter the most important part of the crust. Palazzo likes European-style Plugrà in particular. "With 82% butterfat, higher than traditional American butters, it gives you a flakier crust and deeper buttery flavor," she notes. Plugrà also came in second in our ranking of grocery store butter brands with Kerrygold taking the top spot. With around the same amount of butterfat, either could improve your pie crusts rather than some of the options farther down the list.

A lot of recipes are probably going to turn out fine regardless of whether you use salted or unsalted butter but check your recipe instructions in advance and plan accordingly. If you have both on hand and zero guidance, opt for unsalted, particularly if salt makes an appearance elsewhere in the preparation. Though salt can enhance fruit's sweetness, it could lead to too much saltiness, which, let's face it, is an almost impossible task to walk back.