Bill Yosses, the White House pastry chef hired by Laura Bush, is so good at what he does that the Obamas couldn't bear to part with him when they arrived in Washington. He "makes the best pie I've ever tasted," the president raved to a reporter, "and that is causing big problems for Michelle and myself. I mean, whatever pie you like, he will make it, and it will be the best pie you've ever eaten."

I've been a fan of Yosses since the '80s when I was in cooking school, and he was running the pastry kitchens at some of New York City's best restaurants. He's a pastry chef's pastry chef, a perfectionist whose canny tweaks of recipes elevate his desserts into a class all their own. My copies of Yosses's recipes's for chocolate truffles and lemon cake, clipped years ago from the New York Times, would have dissolved from overuse had I not finally committed them to memory.

I was thrilled to find Yosses's secret for great fruit pie revealed in a recent Associated Press article. His trick is to pre-bake the bottom crust and to cook the filling on top of the stove. When the bottom crust and filling have cooled, he rolls out the top crust, fills the bottom shell, places the raw top crust over the filling and then bakes until golden. This method is meant to avoid the soggy, pale bottom crust that so often ruins an otherwise yummy dessert.

I decided to compare my usual version of apple pie, which begins with a raw bottom crust, to Yosses's pre-baked version to see if the extra effort and energy usage was worth the final result. Though Yosses's own recipe for apple pie is available at the New York Times website, I decided not to use it for several reasons. First, Yosses uses lard in his crust, an ingredient that results in a flaky, light pastry, but which isn't an ingredient found in most refrigerators. Second, Yosses's recipe, packing a whopping 1 cup of sugar and ½ cup of honey to 2 lbs. of apples, seemed way too sweet for my taste. I typically use 1 cup of sugar to 3 lbs. of apples. And finally, his filling also called for ⅓ cup of cornstarch, a surprisingly large amount of a thickener I find gluey in fruit pies.

Instead, I mixed up my usual all-butter crust which worked just fine in both the pre-cooked and standard versions of apple pie. For the filling of the pre-baked version, I caramelized sugar and butter in a heavy skillet, then added sliced apples, lemon juice and a little cinnamon. I let the apples cook until they softened a little, and then set the mixture aside to cool before pouring it into the pre-baked bottom pie shell and then covering it with the uncooked top crust and baking. For the standard pie, I tossed together sliced apples, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and a tablespoon of flour for thickener and put the raw mixture into the raw pie shell, covered it with the raw top crust and baked.

After letting the pies cool for an hour or so, I held a family taste-off. The result was a draw. My husband said both pies were delicious, though distinctly different. He liked the crunchy bottom of the pre-baked pie as well as the way the pie held together when cut. He found its flavor more concentrated. But the standard pie had its own merits, especially its brightly flavored, juicier filling. My son voted for the pre-baked version. And I, Bill Yosses fan that I am, still preferred my old standby recipe. Yes, its crust wasn't as crisp as the prebaked pie's, but it was more tender, and the filling was fresher tasting, more redolent of apples right off the tree.

In the end, for an apple pie, I'm not sure pre-baking is worth it. But why not decide for yourself? Below you'll find both recipes. Do keep in mind that one-crust pies with very liquid fillings, such as pumpkin or pecan, benefit enormously from pre-baking the crust. And next time I'm working with the kind of juicy fruits that can turn a pie truly soggy, berries or cherries, for instance, I'll definitely give the Yosses technique another try. Happy Thanksgiving!

Pie Dough

(enough for 2 two-crust pies; can be used for both recipes)

1 lb. cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

3 Tbs. sugar

1 cup of ice water

Put the butter, flour, salt and sugar into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the butter has been cut up into pea-sized and smaller bits. If you don't have a food processor, put the butter and dry ingredients into a bowl and cut up with two butter knives or a pastry cutter until the butter is pea-sized and smaller.

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