♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Keith makes Bridget a German farmer's breakfast, Adam reviews cookie sheets, and Bridget makes Julia a Dutch appeltaart.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

♪♪ "America's Test Kitchen" is brought to you by the following.

-Plugrà European style butter was created for all chefs, cooks, and bakers, slow-churned with 82% butterfat for a smooth texture and more pliability for flaky crusts.

Plugrà -- from professional kitchens to your home.

-Smithey cast-iron and carbon-steel cookware -- thoughtfully crafted, made with passion, used with passion.

Welcome to the world of Smithey.

-On an American Cruise Lines journey along the legendary Mississippi River, travelers explore Civil War battlefields and historic riverside towns.

Aboard our fleet of American riverboats, you can experience local culture and cuisine and discover the music and history of the mighty Mississippi.

American Cruise Lines, proud sponsor of "America's Test Kitchen."

-GreenPan Frost, the frozen treat maker that makes ice cream, sorbet, slushies, and more with a built-in chiller that goes from fresh to frozen.

GreenPan Frost.

♪♪ -Bratkartoffeln is the German word for fried potatoes.

Now, those sound good on their own, but when you turn it into a recipe, it's got bacon, it's got onions -- all the good things.

Now, Keith is here.

He's going to show us how to make it, but also turn it into something a lot more special.

-Yeah, we have a two-recipe- for-one special today.

So, we're going to start with a side dish that you talked about, the potato side dish, which is fried in a little bit of bacon.

Wonderful dish.

But we're also going to make Bauernfruehstueck, which is a farmer's breakfast that takes those potatoes and adds eggs to make this wonderful, filling, hearty breakfast.

-Right up my alley there.

-So, we're going to start with our bacon.

I have three slices of bacon here.

I prefer to use hickory bacon because the flavor is closer to what you would see in Germany, which is a beechwood smoked bacon.

-Okay.

-So, I'm just going to cut this into small pieces.

So, transfer it over to a 12-inch nonstick skillet.

And I'm going to turn this on to medium-high heat.

And we're going to let that bacon start to render and start to brown.

While that's happening -- I want you to keep an eye on that for me -- -Okay.

No problem.

-...we can focus on our potatoes.

I have 2 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes.

A medium-starch potato is nice here because the slices will hold their shape while they cook.

-Okay.

-Also has a great flavor, too.

-Definitely.

-So, I'm just going to cut these into half-inch slices.

Now we're also going to add half an onion here.

Okay, I think that's looking pretty good.

You can start to see some of that fat render out.

-Mm-hmm!

-Getting a little color on that bacon.

-Oh, yeah.

When the bacon starts popping, it's time to add the onion.

-So, I'm just going to stir this into the bacon, and we're going to let those cook for another three to five minutes.

It's been three minutes, and you can see that the onions have softened and started to pick up some color.

The bacon is rendered.

-It smells so good in here.

-Smells great.

Now I'm going to take this out of the pan before we cook our potatoes.

If I try to cook the potatoes with those aromatics in there, they'll start to burn.

So, I'm going to return this.

I'm going to turn that down to medium heat.

I'm going to add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

Okay.

I think that's good.

So I'll add our 2 pounds of peeled potatoes.

Going to sprinkle that with 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

Now I'm just going to stir that.

Okay, so I'm going to leave that on medium heat.

I'm going to put a lid on it.

I'm going to go for nine minutes, shaking this pan gently.

It's been nine minutes, and this is just a status check about halfway through.

What I'm looking for is this nice bubbling that I'm seeing around the potatoes.

If the heat's too high, we won't see that bubbling, and you will evaporate all the moisture off the potatoes so they won't cook evenly.

So, this looks actually perfect.

So I'm going to put the lid back on, and then we're going to go for another six to nine minutes and make sure that the potatoes are completely tender at that point.

-Okay.

-It's been another six minutes.

Now I want to check these potatoes.

I'm just going to take a paring knife and insert it in the center.

And I have no resistance, so that means those potatoes are perfect.

So, I'm going to leave the lid off at this point.

And we want to evaporate that liquid off, and we want to continue to brown these potatoes.

Now, I'm going to go in there every two to three minutes stirring those over because it's going to brown on the bottom, flip it over, get brown on the second side.

That will take about 10 minutes for that to happen.

I've been cooking these potatoes for 10 minutes, stirring them occasionally, and you can see all this wonderful browning that we've gotten.

I'm going to add our onion and bacon back to the pan.

I'm just going to stir this in.

Okay.

So, this is our side dish.

This is Bratkartoffeln.

We would stop here, and you could serve it with a roast, fish -- really anything.

But we're going to go one step further.

So, I'm just going to let that heat go down a little bit.

And now I have six eggs.

So, we're going to make our Bauernfruehstueck, which is a German farmer's breakfast.

-Okay.

-Hearty, rich.

So, I'm just going to add 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

Before we add the eggs, I'm going to add another tablespoon of butter.

The pan is fairly dry at this point, so the butter will kind of help cook those eggs.

-Yeah, I was getting worried.

-Swirl that around.

-Well, you said farmer's breakfast.

So, in theory, we've been out in the fields for two hours and we deserve this at this point.

-Okay, so I'm just going to pour the eggs over the potatoes.

-Oh, my.

-Like that.

-[ Chuckles ] Incredible.

-We're going to let the eggs cook for 45 seconds just to allow them to set a little bit.

-Okay.

-Okay.

So, I'm just going to start to lift the egg from the edges like this.

What I'm doing is I'm letting that egg run from the top into that little void that I create.

Now, you can see that I can't get all of that runny egg onto the edges underneath to cook it.

So we're going to use our lid again.

-Okay.

-I'm going to put this on here.

The steam is going to come up and cook the eggs that are on top of the potatoes that we can't get underneath.

It's been a couple minutes, and we're just going to check on this.

That looks perfect, right?

There's no runny egg on the top here.

So, we're just going to slide this onto a platter.

Spatula around, but that nonstick pan is doing a really good job.

-Boy, does it ever.

-Oh, man!

Beautiful.

-I might fight you for it.

-One last thing.

-Ah!

A little parsley.

-Parsley.

Ready?

-Yes.

-Okay.

-This is beautiful.

-It is beautiful, isn't it?

I'll give you a hearty wedge.

-This is stunning.

It's simple, but it's absolutely gorgeous.

Look at this perfect slice that Keith gave me.

That is as good as it gets.

Oh, my goodness.

Between the bacon fat and the little bits of bacon in there, you're getting potato, bacon, butter.

-Yeah, and it's really about the potato flavor, not necessarily all the bacon and the -- and the onion.

-That's true.

The potatoes are perfectly cooked, creamy.

-Really creamy.

-And the egg -- it's almost like it's a little beautiful pie shell underneath all of this filling.

One word -- that is wunderbar.

-Wunderbar!

-How about that?

-Nice!

-This is spectacular.

I'm going to make it whether or not I'm working out on a farm.

Now, if you want to make this fantastic breakfast, it starts by cooking bacon and onion until golden brown.

Sauté and steam the potatoes with butter in the rendered bacon fat, and after browning the potatoes, pour over eggs and cook it until just set.

So, from "America's Test" Kitchen, a hearty breakfast fit for champions.

It's Bauernfruehstueck.

Mm.

Now, I'm thinking sausages in here, too, maybe.

-Ooh!

Sausage and bacon.

-Yeah.

♪♪ This is not a cookie sheet.

It's a baking sheet.

A rimmed baking sheet, in fact.

And it's great for other things, but if you're baking cookies, you might need a tool just for that job.

Enter the cookie sheet, and Adam.

-Let's talk about some of the differences here, Bridget.

You can see that this thing has about a 1-inch rim around all four sides.

-Mm-hmm.

-An actual cookie sheet, which is what we're testing here... We have 12 in the lineup.

The price range was $17 to $100.

The actual cookie sheet is like this.

It doesn't have a full rim around the whole thing.

-Right.

-There are a couple of disadvantages to having all four sides here.

It can't expand and contract in the oven heat, so sometimes it'll warp.

-Mm.

-Also, with these tall sides, it's a little harder to get in there with spatulas and really get the cookies on and off.

-Definitely.

-So, we're getting rid of this thing.

-Okay.

-That's gone.

A dedicated cookie sheet, or the ones we like, have fewer sides.

Much easier access with a spatula, or... Take it away, Bridget, with that piece of parchment.

-Nice.

Love doing this.

So, you've got this nice flat edge.

Just grab the parchment.

All the cookies come off at once.

-The whole thing slides off.

Not doing that with a rim around there.

-No, not easily, that's for sure.

-Definitely not.

So, we like them when they have just two raised edges, like that one does, and this one.

They're the same one.

This has about 200 square inches of baking space.

This one, for instance, has about 165 inches of baking space, so it felt a little cramped.

It's also got just one barely raised edge.

It was kind of hard to grab with an oven mitt on.

One of our testers went in and tried to grab it to rotate it mid-bake and smushed a cookie.

-That is unacceptable.

-Not good.

So, this lineup covers a range of materials.

There's steel, there's aluminum, there's aluminized steel.

Some of them are nonstick coated.

This one is clad.

-Ooh!

-And we know what that means.

That's an aluminum core with stainless steel on the outside.

-That's gorgeous, but it's heavy.

-It's $100, and it weighs 4 pounds for a cookie sheet.

-$100?

I'm putting it back gingerly.

-[ Laughs ] Very careful.

Not ideal.

This is another one the testers didn't actually love.

This one is insulated.

This one was not ideal because it baked cookies unevenly.

The air in between the two layers of metal would heat up unevenly.

There were cool spots, there were hot spots, so the cookies didn't bake evenly, and it even warped a little bit in the oven.

-Not good.

-Not good.

In the end, what testers really loved was this one here.

This is the Vollrath Wear-Ever aluminum cookie sheet.

It's uncoated.

It's $33.

And it's got everything that we love.

It's got 203 square inches of baking space.

It's got two raised edges, so you can turn it easily in the oven, but you can also get on there easily with a spatula, or you can slide the whole sheet of cookies off and on.

-Perfect.

-This is pretty much the ideal cookie sheet, and you'll want to have one of these in your bakeware collection.

-Well, there you go.

And if you want to find out more about our product testing here, you can go to our website.

In the meantime, I'm going to have a cookie.

-Can I have one too?

Oh, Bridget, thank you.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

♪♪ -If you look up recipes for Dutch apple pie, you'll find a variety of interpretations.

Some use pie plates, others tall cake pans.

Some add a little cream to the filling.

Others put crumb topping on top.

But today, Bridget is going to show us a more traditional recipe for Dutch apple pie.

-That's right.

Yeah, we went straight to the Dutch and we said, "What do you think appeltaart is?"

They said, "This is appeltaart."

Big, it's tall, it's beautiful.

But, great news for the home cook -- it's one of the easiest apple pies you will ever make.

So, let's start off with the apples.

-Okay.

-So, I've got 4 pounds.

These are Golden Delicious apples.

Obviously peeled them, cored them, and then cut them into 1/4-inch slices.

Now, we don't want them to turn into applesauce, so we're going to pre-cook them before we bake them.

And now, just a little bit of dark brown sugar.

This is 1/4 cup.

And I'm just going to toss this together.

And that's the pie.

I told you it was super easy.

-Well, it is in a Dutch oven.

-Ha-ha!

Or as they call it, "oven."

-[ Laughs ] Alright, so I'm going to turn this to medium-high heat.

Put a lid on it.

And we're going to let this go from 8 to 14 minutes.

Really anywhere in there.

What I'm looking for is the apples to start to soften.

About half of them should start to look a little translucent.

-Okay.

-Alright.

Alright.

Let's check this.

It's been about 10 minutes.

Alright, now this -- this is what I'm looking for.

So, you can see it's a little bit translucent.

-Yeah.

-And now, I'm going to dump them out onto this rimmed baking sheet.

We want them to stop cooking.

Alright.

Spread this out.

So, I've got here flour.

This is 2 1/2 cups, 12 1/2 ounces, of all-purpose flour.

I've got 5 1/4 ounces or 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar.

-Dark brown?

-Dark brown.

A little bit of an odd ingredient for a pie crust -- This is baking powder, a tablespoon of it.

And 1/2 teaspoon of just regular table salt.

Now, I've got a spatula here, but what's really good is to get in here with your hands and break up those clumps of brown sugar.

Alright, so now let's talk liquid ingredients.

One egg.

Crack it.

Whisk it.

Alright.

Now, I do want to reserve a little bit of this beaten egg, about a tablespoon, for later on.

We're going to use it in our egg wash for the top of the pie.

-Ah!

-Alright.

So, the egg goes right in.

Now, I've got some butter here.

-Just a little bit.

-Just a little bit.

It's 14 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and still hot.

That's going to make it easy to incorporate in our dish.

And just to help things along, I've got a tablespoon of water just to bring the dough to the texture that I'm looking for.

Alright.

Just want to bring this together.

Alright, I'm going to dump this onto my surface here.

Now I get to have some fun.

Just going to knead this until it comes together and all the ingredients look to be well-mixed.

So now I just want to roll this out to about a 9-inch log.

Alright.

And I'm doing this because it's going to make it easier for me to portion this out into three equal portions.

-Ah!

-Alright.

I'm going to put you to work.

You're going to help me make this crust.

So, this is a nonstick springform pan.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's 9 inches.

If you're using a regular one that's not nonstick, you'll need to grease it with a little bit of vegetable oil spray.

-Okay.

-But we're going to take one-third of this.

So, we just crumble this into the bottom.

I just need you to press this just into the bottom at this point.

-Okay.

No sides?

-No sides.

-Thank you for giving me something to keep busy with.

-Of course.

-You know me.

-Next up... I'm going to take another blob, one-third of the dough, and I'm going to pat it out to about an 8x4-inch rectangle.

And I'm going to put another piece of parchment on here just so it's making contact there.

-How's that?

-That looks great.

Almost done.

Just set that aside for a minute.

-Okay.

-So, again, put a little piece of parchment on top, get it to stick.

And now I'm going to roll this out to a 10x12-inch rectangle.

Alright, I'm going to leave this between the sheets of parchment.

-Mm-hmm.

-And I'll put it on a rimmed baking sheet.

This is going to go in the fridge in just a moment.

Alright.

So, this last piece of dough.

What are we going to do with it?

I know -- let's build the side crust.

So, same thing.

Just crumble around the edges and then start patting up the sides of the pan.

-That dough really is easy to work with.

-Yes.

Alright, so I need the butter to chill, get a little bit firm.

Apples still have to cool down, so I'm going to go put these in the fridge.

-Okay.

Well, as Bridget mentioned earlier, it's important to parcook the apples so that they hold together in the tart.

Here's why.

If you bake raw apples for an hour and 15 minutes, which is the total baking time of the tart, the pectin in the apples, which holds the cell walls together, separates from each other, turning the apples mushy.

The key to avoiding mushy apples is to parcook them to around 140 degrees for at least 10 minutes.

At this specific temperature, an enzyme called pectin methylesterase, or PME, becomes more active in the fruit.

The enzyme modifies the pectin that holds the apple cells together.

Once the pectin is modified, calcium ions already present in the fruit can easily link the chains of pectin together.

These precooked apples now have a sturdy pectin mesh that allows the apples to stay firm and intact throughout the rest of baking.

So, the trick to preserving the texture of the apples is to parcook them before baking the pie.

-Next step, we got to make our apples taste spices.

-Okay.

-Yeah, and these apples, I let them fully cool.

That did take about 30 minutes.

Alright, so let's get the apples out of here, into our bowl.

And I just -- if there are any juices, I'm going to leave them behind.

Alright, so let's add the rest of our filling to the apples.

Now, a little bit of a polarizing ingredient.

-Mm, do you have to?

-You don't.

[ Both laugh ] -This is golden raisins.

-Okay.

-So, 1/2 cup.

You don't have to add it.

But it really is very traditional with a Dutch apple pie.

Alright, a little bit of thickener here.

This is a tablespoon of cornstarch.

-Mm-hmm.

-A little bit of lemon juice.

This is a tablespoon.

And a pinch of salt.

Just regular table salt.

-Okay.

-Alright, let's talk about the spice blend here.

Let me tell you what we have here.

Now, our backbone is cinnamon.

You know it's one of my favorite spices.

A teaspoon of cinnamon.

So, this is 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.

-Mm-hmm.

-1/4 teaspoon of cardamom.

-Oh, I love cardamom.

-Yeah.

We have 1/4 teaspoon of ground coriander.

And I've got 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg.

Really pays to freshly grate it yourself rather than get the stuff out of the jar.

They taste completely different to me.

-They do.

-So, this is just a little bit.

And I'm going to start tossing this, but I'm almost ready for the pie dough.

So, if you wouldn't mind going to the fridge and getting out both the tray and the pie plate.

-Okay.

Where would you like it?

Here?

-Just here is perfect.

-Alright.

-Thanks, Julia.

Alright, so that looks great.

So, this is going to go right into the base here.

So, I'm just going to arrange these.

We want them to be compacted in there.

So, now let's talk about the top of this pie.

You mentioned crumb toppings.

-Mm-hmm.

-You can find some of those, but the most traditional is lattice.

-Oh!

-Now, I said that this pie was one of the easiest pies that we've ever made, this appeltaart.

This is why.

You think lattice, and fear is struck into your heart.

-A little bit.

A little bit.

-Yes.

This is super easy.

So, let me just take this out of the sheet pan, and I'm going to peel off this top layer.

And we're going to put this back in this rimmed baking sheet because we're going to use this to put the pie on before we put it in the oven.

Alright, now we need to cut some lattice strips.

So, I need eight in total.

And we're going to space these about 1 1/4 inch apart.

Alright, so I'm going to use a pizza cutter.

You could use a knife for this.

And I'm going to start using those little marks to make my little lattice.

Now, again, it's fine if the edges are not perfect.

This is one of the most forgiving doughs I've ever worked with.

Alright, so we're going to use an offset spatula.

And I'm just going to loosen... ...this first one.

There we go.

I'm going to place it right on the top of my pie, spacing them evenly apart.

Want to give a little bit of space between them.

Adjust at this point.

Alright.

So, now we're going to put the remaining four at a 45-degree angle.

And I'm not going to be picking up any strips to braid it and to make a basket weave at all.

Alright.

So, now I just want to go in there and kind of press the strips down onto the pie.

So, now I'm going to take a paring knife, and I just want to start going around and just removing the excess dough.

Ooh-whee!

I'm about ready to bake, Julia.

One last step.

This was that 1 tablespoon of the reserved egg.

Just beaten egg.

Alright.

Time to bake this.

This is going to go into a 375-degree oven.

We're going to bake this in two stages.

But for this first stage, I'm going to leave it in there for 45 minutes.

-Oh, ah!

-Bridget, that is gorgeous.

-That was just 45 minutes.

It's not done cooking, though.

Now, it's colored quite a bit, so we don't want it to color too much more.

So I'm going to tent it loosely with foil.

Alright.

Doesn't have to be too tight.

Just protecting it.

But we're going to leave this for another 30 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out nice and clean.

-Okay.

-Still there!

[ Both laugh ] That was another 30 minutes, so I'm going to take this out.

And if you wouldn't mind getting the oven door for me.

-You bet.

-Alright.

-I can't wait for the reveal.

-Let's hope it's still there.

Et voilà!

-Goodness, Bridget.

-Now, the test to see if it is actually done.

I'm going to take a skewer.

Alright.

It's good to go around a few places just to make sure it's all baked evenly.

And that looks great.

-Mm.

-So, one thing I want to do before I release the side here, I just want to take a paring knife and go around just the top, where the lattice and the side met.

Now release that nice and gently.

And... -Oh, look at that.

[ Gasps ] -Come on.

-That is statuesque.

My goodness!

-She's a looker.

-She is a looker.

-Yeah.

Alright.

Now, obviously we can't cut right into it.

We got to let it rest for at least four hours, cool down, so it's going to be nice and sliceable and ready for you.

Completely cooled.

That was four hours.

You can see that the dough really kind of heals itself.

Doesn't matter if it has little imperfections.

Alright, so I'm going to use a sharp knife.

And you want to just gently saw this because it is kind of crumbly.

-I love how tall it is.

-Oh, yeah.

-Oh, goodness!

-Look at that.

-That's gorgeous.

-Isn't that?

It's a sexy pie, right there.

Alright.

There you go.

-Bridget.

-Now, in Holland, the Dutch like to serve this with whipped cream, although you could use ice cream.

But with whipped cream, it's called met slagroom.

-Ooh, I like it.

-Yeah, -And we've got our recipe for our easy whipped cream on our website.

-I've got to get in there.

-You know, another beautiful thing about this dough is because it's not that super flaky American pie dough, which I love for certain things, but it just kind of breaks apart so easily.

Mmm!

-The flavor of the apples!

-Mmm.

-You can really taste the apples.

And the spices, they're there, but they're nuanced.

They really are just background notes.

And it's not just cinnamon or maybe a little nutmeg.

It's the coriander and the cardamom.

-Right.

-They all... It's like an orchestra of flavors in the background.

-And you get that little bit of ginger, without it turning into gingerbread.

-Bridget, this is incredible.

Thank you for showing me how to make it.

-You bet.

-If you want to make this magnificent appeltaart, start by parcooking 4 pounds of Golden Delicious apples.

Make a press-in pie crust and top with lattice.

Then bake for an hour and a quarter, covering with foil for the final 30 minutes.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a magnificent recipe for appeltaart.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews and select episodes, at our website -- americastestkitchen.com/tv.

Ah, I can't wait to make this for my family.

They are going to flip.

-Want more from "ATK"?

Visit our website to access the newest season's full episodes, rigorously tested recipes, and ingredient and equipment reviews at americastestkitchen.com/tv.

-Get every recipe and product recommendation from all 26 seasons of public television's most-watched cooking show.

This year's edition includes 1,400 recipes from all 26 seasons of "America's Test Kitchen."

The cost is $29.99.

That's over 40% off the cover price of $50.

To order, head to our shop at americastestkitchen.com/tvbook.

"America's Test Kitchen" is brought to you by the following.

-Plugrà European style butter was created for all chefs, cooks, and bakers, slow-churned with 82% butterfat for a smooth texture and more pliability for flaky crusts.

Plugrà -- from professional kitchens to your home.

-Smithey cast-iron and carbon-steel cookware -- thoughtfully crafted, made with passion, used with passion.

Welcome to the world of Smithey.

-On an American Cruise Lines journey along the legendary Mississippi River, travelers explore Civil War battlefields and historic riverside towns.

Aboard our fleet of American riverboats, you can experience local culture and cuisine and discover the music and history of the mighty Mississippi.

American Cruise Lines, proud sponsor of "America's Test Kitchen."

-GreenPan Frost, the frozen treat maker that makes ice cream, sorbet, slushies, and more with a built-in chiller that goes from fresh to frozen.

GreenPan Frost.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪