There is no better way to start the fall season than with a classic mighty apple pie in my world. Fall is my favorite season. It is still warm, but not scorching hot, and the garden is full of produce cradled in the sun’s gentle and warm rays. There are often not enough hours in the day to enjoy all the glory that fall has to offer.
The garden is full of apples, although sometimes I feel I am raking them off the ground more than actually picking from the tree. Since we don’t treat the apple trees with anything other than our garden compost, there are always many apples half-eaten already by wildlife. And that’s cool. We still get plenty for ourselves.
I am not too picky as to which type of apples I put in my pie. Most that I tried taste really good. They are all crispy and gorgeously sweet on the inside, and that is all that matters.
Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you all the apple varieties we have in the garden, as some were planted by my grandfather even before I was born. There are some very old varieties which you can’t find at the farmers’ market today.
Ok, on to the apple pie recipe. Let’s start with the pie crust.
How to make the pie crust
Making the pie crust is not rocket science, but a little bit of math will certainly help you. Something to tell your kid, after a math lesson, when that inevitable question When will I ever use this pops up?
So the whole magic behind the perfect pie crust is a combo of three things:
- A proper ratio of flour, fat, and liquid
- Ice-cold water and fat
- Very gentle kneading
The ratio of flour, fat, and liquid
If you open any baking cookbook, you might encounter the 3:2:1 ratio for the pie crust. In other words, it is
3 parts flour : 2 parts fat : 1 part liquid
For example, if we have 300 grams of flour, we would need 200 grams of fat and 100 grams of liquid.
If you are more comfortable with percentages, the numbers would be:
100% flour : 66% fat : 34% liquid
Basically, all the ingredients are measured against the flour, i.e., the flour is the benchmark. I like working with percentages like this since it enables me to make a quick recipe by just starting from one ingredient, the flour.
You will notice that in this apple pie recipe, there is slightly more fat than the above noted 66%. I find that this gives a somewhat fuller crust.
Ice-cold water and fat …
All the ingredients for the pie crust have to be very cold. Preferably, you should not be working in the butter with your hands as the hands transmit too much heat on to the dough.
If the butter melts, the dough will not be as flaky. This is the reason we are using either the hand pastry blender or the food processor.
One nice trick I use in the summer is to chill the flour in the freezer. You can measure out everything in the bowl and leave it in the freezer for 15 minutes or until the butter has hardened but is not frozen, and the flour is cold to touch.
The water should also be ice-cold. Prepare the water for the dough by adding some ice cubes in a bowl and the water. Measure out the needed water from the ice-bath when the recipe calls for it. This will ensure your water is as cold as it gets when you need it.
Very gentle kneading …
One last thing to worry about is the actual kneading of the dough. The goal here is to knead the dough into a bowl with the least amount of kneading possible. There are two reasons.
First, we don’t want to heat the dough.
Second, we don’t want to develop the gluten, since this will make the pie chewy.
The dough should be marble-like, i.e., small patches of butter should be visible.
Notes on the pie crust
Before we move on to discuss the pie filling, I want to share some notes which I find useful:
Excess dough, after the pie has been assembled, should be reused only once.
Re-kneading the dough more than one time develops too much gluten, and the dough starts to resemble a dryer bubble gum. There is not going to be any flakiness in that crust if baked.
For this reason make sure to have the amount of dough needed for the size of the pie dish at hand.
The amount of water in the pie crust varies given your specific conditions while making the pie.
For example, if you break up the butter with flour into tiny pieces, less water will be needed in the pie crust. The reason is that the broader distribution of butter replaces the need for water.
I find that the butter should be around 0.5cm – 1cm in size when incorporated.
About the filling
There is nothing fancy about this apple pie filling. No need to spend extra time cooking the apples. I find that leaving the apples to marinate in the sugar and spices for at least an hour enables them to get a nice coat of the sauce.
Once, I even left the filling in the fridge overnight to bake in the morning. It was great!
When the apple pie is baked, the apples are cooked through with their shape retained, and the sauce glazes them nicely.
How to make the mighty apple pie
Here are some quick notes on the how-to process.
The bottom crust is rolled out slightly over the edge of the pie pan. This slightly overflowing part of the dough will be used in the last stage of the pie assembling process.
For the top part, if you wish to do this lace style, roll out the dough so that it is 1-2cm longer than the diameter of the pie pan.
Using the pasta cutter, cut 10 thicker ribbons about 1cm in width and 5 very thin ribbons around 3mm in width.
The above picture on the left shows the final style to be assembled on top of the pie.
Assemble the horizontal ribbon pieces by arranging the thinner one on top of the thicker one. Make sure the thinner is in the middle.
First, we need to add the pie filling and even it as much as we can. Be careful not to push any pie pieces as it will damage the pie crust.
Take 5 thicker plain ribbon pieces and arrange them, spaced evenly, along the vertical line of the pie.
Starting from the bottom of the pie, flip over the 2nd and 4th vertical ribbon just enough so that you can place one assembled ribbon horizontally. Flip over the 2nd and 4th vertical ribbon back in place.
To add the second horizontal assembled ribbon, flip over 1st, 3rd, and 5th vertical ribbon just enough so that you can place one assembled ribbon horizontally. Flip back the inverted ribbons.
Repeat the process interchangeably with the remaining 3 horizontal assembled ribbons.
Once finished cut out with kitchen scissors any extra ribbons hanging from the pie. The ribbons and the overhanging pie dough should be the same length.
Now, just flip over the extra hanging part of the pie and tuck the pie dough in along side the pie rim.
Finally, using two fingers on your left hand and one finger on your right hand make little indentations on the pie border.
Finally, brush the pie with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
Baking and serving
In order for the apples to cook through, the apple pie should be baked at 195C. After 30 minutes of baking, the pie crust is half-baked, and the temperature can be lowered to 185. This will ensure that the filling is cooked through and that the sauce is nice and creamy.
I know the second part of this sentence is the hardest to endure, but yes, you should leave the pie to cool down to room temperature before serving it.
The crust is very tender and flaky and, if warm, can easily break and make a mess. Also, and this is equally important, the filling needs to set; otherwise, it may seem as if it is runny.
Other than that, I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we did.
Happy baking!
Apple pie
Equipment & Tools
- Food processor
- 9in pie dish
INGREDIENTS
Pie dough
- 300 g pastry flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 10 g powdered sugar
- 210 g butter (chilled, cubed)
- 80 g water (nonchlorinated, ice-cold)
- ½ cup ice cubes
Pie filling
- 1 lemon (zest)
- 3½ tbsp lemon juice (about 1 medium lemon)
- 550 g apples (cleaned, cut into bite-size pieces)
- 20 sugar (unrefined)
- 45 g light brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon (Ceylon)
- 1 tsp vanilla paste (Nielsen-Massey)
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp butter (cut into small cubes)
Egg wash
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp heavy cream
Other
- 1 tbsp sugar (unrefined)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Preheat the oven to 195°C.
Prepare the filling
- In a mixing bowl add lemon zest and the juice.
- Wash the apples, peel them, cut out the core and slice into wedges, and then into bite-size pieces.Add the apples into the mixing bowl. Mix well so that all the apples are nicely coated with lemon. (Note 1).
- Add sugars, cinnamon, vanilla paste, butter, and cornstarch to the mixing bowl. Mix well to incorporate all the ingredients.Cover with a clean cloth and set aside.
Prepare the pie crust
- Measure out the flour, salt, and powdered sugar. Add all to a mixing bowl.Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Measure the butter and cut into 3cm rectangles. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Add ice cubes and water in a bowl. Place in the fridge.
- After all the ingredients are chilled mix the dry ingredients in the food processor by pulsing a couple of times. (Note 2)
- Add all the butter and pulse several times or until the butter is coarsely broken into the flour.
- Add 55g of ice water and mix the dough. If it is still dry and does not come together if squeezed add a bit more water. (Note 3)There should be some dry pieces of dough on the bottom of the food processor bowl.
- Once the majority of the dough does come together take the dough out and onto a clean work surface.Gently gather the dough and the dry pieces and knead just enough for the dough not to have and dry pieces.Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut in half.Make a disc out of the two halves and place in a zip lock bag.Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. (Note 4)
Assemble the pie
- Take out one piece of pie dough from the fridge and place it on the working surface.Dust it lightly with flour.Roll out the dough, always from the middle outwards, until it is around 3mm thick. (Note 5)
- Place the rolled out pie crust on the pie dish. Gently tap the dough to even the bottom out, especially around the edges. There should not be any gaps on the bottom part of the dough. Set aside.
- Similarly, roll the top part of the dough.
- If you are doing the lacing then cut 10 wider (1cm) ribbons, and 5 thin ones (3mm).Assemble 5 ribbons by placing the thinner one on top of the thicker one. Set aside.
- Add pie filling to the pie dish.Level the filling, but be careful not to push into the pie dough.
- Arrange the ribbons as described in the post.
- Make the egg wash by mixing the egg yolk and the heavy cream. Brush the pie with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake the pie for 30 minutes on 196°C and then the remaining 20 minutes on 185°C.
- Let the pie cool to room temperature before serving.
NOTES
- Coating apples with lemon will reduce the browning of the apples.
- This will ensure the proper distribution of salt and sugar.
- The amount of water needed depends on how fine or coarse the butter is mixed with the flour. The finer it is mixed less water will be needed for the dough to come together.
- The pie dough can remain in the fridge for 3 days. You can also place the dough in the freezer and use it after the 3 day period. When needed thaw the pie dough in the fridge the night before you are planning to use it.
- If the dough is too cold and it is hard to roll the dough let it sit on the counter a bit. Applying pressure on the very cold dough will result in dough cracking . Always apply slight pressure when rolling out the dough.
