I'm a housewife who has all day to bake if I wish to but the results should be perfect. I followed all of the instructions perfectly for the apple pie. After several hours of preparation, using a baking stone covered with foil, a temperature of 425 degrees (preheated for 20 minutes), etc., the pie was just okay. The bottom crust browned but was soggy, the filling tasted good but was undercooked. I reduced the liquid from the macerated apples to just above the 1/3 cup recommended. However, it never bubbled out of the top of the crust and didn't thicken in the pie (I used the cornstarch on the apples as instructed). If I had cooked it any longer (10 min. longer than recommended didn't help), the pie crust on top would have been shoe leather. The top crust was delicious and flaky and looked beautiful. I did learn to fill the pie pan with the crust and refrigerate it before cooking to prevent shrinkage and produce flakiness. I plan on trying another recipe in this book in the future but I know now to devote my entire day to each recipe. I can't imagine baking tons of holiday pies with so many steps to take for each one. I have been looking for the ultimate pie crust secrets and this book is good for providing information on flours, chilling factors, etc.. Cooking is my hobby so as a textbook, it will be extremely helpful.