I have blogged about a lot of apple pies in this little blog’s short existence.
There have been little apple pies, toffee apple pie bars and Polish apple crumble pie, but no classic pie. Which is strange, because traditional apple pie is something I have made for years.
I love this pie. To me, it is perfect. And a pie-loving girlfriend was coming over for coffee, so I thought I’d make it for her.
I have tried out a lot of apple pie pastry recipes. Ones using powdered sugar, some using caster, and others that bind the dough together with just water or milk. This one is my favourite. It uses caster sugar and binds with egg yolks and water.
As a result, this crust is rich, crumbly, buttery and perfectly balanced. I have doubled the pastry quantity from the original recipe because I like a good, thick crust.
The apples in this pie are cut into chunks, slightly sweetened and stewed with cinnamon until they are softened slightly but still hold their shape. You don’t want them too mushy or too hard.
And I love the lattice crust. I think it looks beautiful, and I prefer it to an entire layer of pastry over my pie. It is sprinkled with sugar before baking which makes it slightly crunchy, then the apple filling soaks into the pastry from underneath. It’s delicious.
This is my favourite apple pie.
My relatives in Connecticut love it too. I’ve made it for them each time I’ve been. T, this is for you.
Coco wants to eat it. Her eyes are begging.
TRADITIONAL APPLE PIE
For the crust
3 cups plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 egg yolks
4 tbsp cold water
1 tsp vanilla extract
Put the flour, sugar and butter into a food processor or stand mixer. Mix on a low speed until mixture resembles very coarse breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolks, cold water and vanilla, and process until a dough forms.
Take a third of the dough, shape it into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. This will be your lattice. Form a disc with the remaining dough and wrap it in plastic wrap. This will be your crust. Refrigerate for at least an hour. In the meantime, make your filling.
For the apple filling
8 large Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp cornflour
Peel, core and chop the apples into 2cm (1 inch) cubes.
Combine the apples, sugar, cinnamon and water in a saucepan. Cook, over a low heat for 20 – 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. The apples should be soft but still hold their shape.
Drain the juice from the apples into a small bowl. Stir in the cornflour until it dissolves and return this mixture to the apples. Mix to combine. Set aside.
When you are ready to make your pie, remove the larger disc of pastry from the fridge. Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease a pie dish well.
On a lightly floured surface, or between two sheets of baking paper, roll out the dough until it is big enough to line your pie dish.
Lightly flour the dough and gently roll it up onto your rolling pin. Then unroll it into your pie dish, easing it in and pressing it into any edges. Trim the excess pastry, leaving a 2cm (1 inch) overhang.
Fill the pastry shell with the apple filling.
Remove the smaller disc of dough from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface or between two sheets of baking paper, roll out the dough until it is big enough to cover your pie dish.
Cut the dough into 1.5 – 2 cm wide strips. Arrange them in a lattice over the apples. This is how you do it:
Arrange 6 – 7 strips of pastry horizontally across the pie. Fold back every second strip halfway.
Place a strip of pastry vertically along the folded strips. Unfold the horizontal strips over the pastry. Fold back the other every second horizontal strip halfway.
Place another strip of pastry vertically. Unfold the folded strips. Fold back the originally unfolded strips. Place another strip vertically.
Unfold the horizontal strips. Continue with this process, on the other side of the pie as well, until you have a lattice.
Fold the excess outer rim in over the pie. Pinch it together with your thumb and forefinger to make a pretty fluted edge.
Brush the lattice with water and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Bake for 40 minutes to an hour, until the crust is golden brown. Serves 8-10.
+ whipped cream on top
?
Absolutely not Marcin!
Such a perfect lattice top… I’m jealous.
Thank you! But its easy once you know how!
love the colors in the pictures! and the pie looks absolutely perfect, especially the lattice on top!
Thanks so much
what size pie pan are you using?
I usually mix it up depending on how deep I want my pie and how thick I want my pastry. Anything around 20 – 22 inches is fine. Because of the large quantity of dough, the pie won’t be affected by the pie dish you choose
awesome, thanks! looking forward to making this
You’re welcome
let me know how it turns out!
Hey there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m absolutely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
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Hello Natasha,
Loved this, loved this, loved this!:-)
My first attempt at baking a pie and am so glad for this recipe! Your blog is so beautiful and the pictures are so inspiring and salivating;-)
Both of us devoured 2 big slices that too after a heavy dinner!
(the crust was not browned as much as it should have though I baked mine for almost 50-55 min, I have a gas oven, any tips or ideas what I should do different next time?)
Thank you so much and good luck!
Hope to bake more goodies from your blog!
Cheers
Hi! Oh I’m so glad you liked it
things like this make me so happy!
Haha I always eat 2 slices too and then I feel so sick… but it’s the best on the first day!
I’m surprised your crust didn’t brown? I usually have the opposite problem – that the edges of my crust start to burn before the center is cooked. Was your pastry cooked? If you like it browner you can always leave it longer than the recommended baking time, every oven is different and you should make it to suit your own tastes
Thanks for all the kind words!
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I love your lattice instructions — I’ve never tried that before, nor am I familiar with caster sugar. I just googled it and found a suggestion that you can substitute regular sugar ground fine in the food processor or coffee grinder. Also, can you tell me how much butter the crust uses in Tablespoons or cups? Thank you!
Hi Gretchen! Thanks! It makes the lattice so easy. Caster sugar is just superfine sugar. The butter quantity is 1 cup + 2 tbsp. You can always check out my conversions page for any other queries like that
http://butterbaking.wordpress.com/conversions/ Enjoy the pie!
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