Apple Pie is quick to make but the crust takes a lot of practice to get the consistency right. You can always start with a wetter dough to make sure it will stick together by adding more water. I think less wet is flakier but more difficult to form the crust. You can always patch the dough when putting into dish since when baking it always forms together.
I like to use cortland apples since they are really good cooked and hold together when baking. Macintosh apples tend to turn into applesauce which is also nice. You can use any combination of apples you like. The cortland apples can be really large making peeling and coring much easier. I really like making pies after apple picking when the cortlands are huge.
I found freezing the butter for 30m then grating with a box grater works really well making mixing the dough much easier. Otherwise slicing the butter and pressing into the flour with hands works.
I find lemon zest and juice adds really nice flavor. I prefer less sugar and cinnamon to make a tarter filling. You can always add more sugar and cinnamon on top of the crust. I only like cinnamon and sugar and omit nutmeg, all spice , etc for the filling. Adding the egg white on the top crust before adding the sugar and cinnamon make the crust top nice and crispy and gives a nice look to the pie. I like to allow the pie to cool for a few hours to cool almost completely. The pie is almost better the next day.
Ingredients
crust
- I like to make the crust the night before and leave in the fridge, should leave crust in fridge for at least 3 hours
- for a 10 inch high pie plate
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2T sugar
- 14T unsalted butter, 1 3/4 sticks
- 3/5 cup chilled vegetable shortening
- 10T ice cold water
filling
- 5-6 cortland and/or mac apples about 10-12 cups
- 1 lemon zested, and juiced
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
- 2t cinnamon
- 1/2t salt
- 1 egg beaten, may add a little water
Steps
Crust
- put butter in freezer for 15-30m
- using a box grater, grate the butter
- cut vegetable shortening into chunks
- in a large bowl place flour
- add grated butter and shortening
- mix until forms pebbles
- add water 1T at a time until forms a cohesive ball, may add several more T of water
- knead gently into a ball
- split into 2 halves on slightly larger
- place each ball on saran wrap and flatten into disk about 2 inches thick
- place dough disks in fridge and can leave overnight
filling
- preheat oven to 425 F
- take dough out of fridge
- peel skin of each apple, slice removing the core
- slice into quarters then 8ths, cut each slice into 2 or 3 chunks in large bowl
- as each each apple, mix in lemon zest and some lemon juice
-
mix sugar and cinnamon, can taste apple until desired sweetness
- adding flour to counter and dough, roll out larger bottom disk
- roll out until fits into pie plate
- add apples and sugar mixture into pie plate until full and apples fill plate, can be higher in middle
- roll out top crust
- place top crust on top of apples
- using fork can attach top to bottom crust and slightly crimp
- can cut off any extra dough
- beat 1 egg and can add a little water
- brush top crust with egg wash
- sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar
- can slice a few slits on top of pie for juices
-
place a cookie sheet below the pie plate for juices
- bake at 425 for 25 minutes
- lower temperature to 375 bake for additional 30-35 minutes
- ready when crust is golden getting dark and you can hear the juices bubbling
- take out of oven and let rest for several hours, you can cover with foil to keep warm after a few minutes
- the pie tastes best when is cooled even the next day
