>Yes, but often beginning cooks like the security that
>comes with a very specific recipe. It very easy to refer
>to beginners as stupid when you yourself have a lot of
>experience at something, but it's not all that helpful.

When I was young about 15 and already know how to bake....Whenever a
new recipe book comes to my hands, it had already become my habit to
ask myself if its really necesssary to go to great lengths just to get
the specific material that the cookbook author specifies in the
recipe that is incidentally not available. in the cupboard or the
local stores.
My mom who was my first baking tutor at the start told me if you want
to succeed in baking is to follow the book to the letter.( especially
with ingredients and measurements...)
I thought about it....what is the difference?.......I don't believe
that these recipes were mandated by god that it will fail and I go to
hell if I deviate occasionally.
One recipe I ;disobeyed ' IIRC from a borrowed cookbook
It says all purpose flour.....so I ask myself what is the difference
between two brands of equally well known all purpose flour..?
They are both similar IMO ......how does it differ from toilet
paper?.......I have used different brands and they feel the same to my
arse. So what the big deal about brand name?
Anyway to cut the story short I made that recipe ( IIRC a soft roll
recipe ) and I don't care if whatever the brand I am using ( I only had
Pillsbury APF during that time and the recipe states Gold Medal )and in
the end it comes out fine .
Then my mom came to see to checked what I have done( if I really
searched the local stores for the ingredient declared in the recipe)
and seeing that it comes out perfect even if I am deviating from the
ingredients specification....
She just said with a repressed smile.( maybe out of slight
embarrassment?)....you are really a smart kid.....
Then she said .....If I am in your place I will never do it unless I
got the ingredient what the recipe states........
>From that time on she never interfered with my baking chore.....
Therefore the moral of the story is to use Lots of COMMON SENSE in
whatever you do in the kitchen.....including baking
Unfortunately that lack of practical thinking is also found among
professional chefs and bakers, and occasionally I got into trouble with
a bakery workmate several years ago for the same reason.....
Heres one story. In a town bakery I was working with 3 other bakers .
There was an order for a batch of hearth baked bread but the baker who
was assigned to the task was adamant...
He will not do his recipe as he does not have any high gluten
flour.....as written( what is really needed for that recipe) in his
already old recipe book.
I ask him,,,,if you don't mind I would like to give a try would you
allow me...He said smugly....Do you think you can do it?......
I will try.....
He replied. a bit offended ....Okay its all yours!....and immediately
went out of the bakery.
What I did was simple....
I added gluten to the lower protein flour in stock (which was about
12% ) ,I included a bit of diastatic malt syrup and the results were
incomparable with the ones I remember was being made with that baker I
mentioned using high gluten flour.
I have kept that mindset that recipe descriptions are not absolute
truths that must not be disobeyed.

>If I was just buying the grahams for snacking, it wouldn't have made a whole
>lot of difference, and for the cost, if I didn't like them, I could have
>thrown them out without much loss. But if I was taking the time to make my
>own crust and my own pie, I didn't want some funky off-flavored graham
>crackers to ruin it.

IMO
It will come out just fine....if the crust is a bit flavored you can
modify the filling and deviate from the recipe so that there will be
harmony between the crust and the crumb...and you will come up with a
pleasing end product.
Just like in mathematics....there is an infinite permutation.. of
numbers and theway they are arranged and used ...so is in the
cookbook recipes ...you have many ways to manipulate the recipe ..and
that is limited only by your imagination.

That is the motivation of the iron chef....HARMONIOUS CREATIVITY.
Occasionally when I am in that sticky situation that I had to
improvise
I keep this in mind....
...COOKERY IS 99% COMMON SENSE AND 1% RECIPE.
and the outcome is always positive!