Superb Apple Pie recipe

Ingredients
9 Granny Smith Apples (medium)
1 lemon juiced
4 Tbs castor sugar (to your taste)
50g Butter (optional)
Cinnamon (dash to taste)
Nutmeg (dash to taste)
1 Tbs cornflour dissolved in water
1/8 tsp Tumeric powder (colour)

500g plain flour
50g icing sugar
275g butter, cold and 1cm cubed
1 tsp vanilla extract
300ml iced water as required

Alternate pastry
330g plain flour
270g Self raising flour
30g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
300g butter, cold and cubed
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
300ml iced water as required

I think its best to cool (not refrigerate) the pie and serve 2-3 hours later. Once refrigerated the pastry takes on a different texture. Its OK, but fresh is certainly best. This pie deserves a pure organic cream whipped with a small amount of icing sugar.

Method::
The filling: Peel and core 8 of the apples and cut in half and then slice each half into 5 flat half moon pieces. In a large saucepan with lemon juice, sugar, (butter), tumeric, cinammon and nutmeg, cook covered for 10 minutes stirring occassionally. Add cornflour dissolved in some water. Cook covered for 10 minutes stirring occassionally. Apple should now be soft but not mushy. Remove to a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

The Pastry: Put the flour and sugar into the mixer bowl. Stand the butter 2 minutes on the bench and add to the flour. Using a mixer with the K attachment beat on speed 2 for just under 2 mins and while continuing to mix add the vanilla (egg, salt) and then drizzle in the iced water till the mixture balls up. Remove to the bench and just bring together. Divide into one third and two third size pieces. Roll flat to 10mm thick in clingwrap and lay flat in the refrigerator for at least an hour. This is as soft as pastry can be done.

Lightly spray two sheets of baking paper and join together. Put the the larger disc on. Put more oil sprayed baking paper on top. Roll to 3-4mm thick. Repeat with the second pastry. Refrigerate overnight. Grease and freeze a glass pie dish.

Release the baking paper from both sides of the larger pastry disc and lay into the pie dish. Remove all the air from behind the pastry. Trim, leaving an edge and return to the refrigerator at least 1 hour.

The Pie: Prepare the last apple into thin half moon slices. Fill the pie with half the cold pie mixture. Lay the raw apple radially into the pie. Top with remaining mixture. Push flat with your hands to remove all the air.

Make a lattice top: From the smaller disc cut 10mm strips. Put horizontal strips loosely across the pie. Then fold back to just over half way every second strip and put a vertical strip in place. Replace the folded back strips and then do the same to the alternate strips and put in place the second vertical strip. Carry on. If the pastry gets too soft stop and return the pie and pastry to the refrigerator for 20 mins and then continue. Fold over the edge and join to the lattice strips. Generously sprinkle the pastry with castor sugar and refrigerate.

Important: Cover the edges of the pie with doubled aluminium foil for the first 35 minutes of baking time to avoid burnt edges. Rotate the pie in the oven to promote even cooking.

Bake: Bake at 200° for 15 minutes then at least 45 mins at 180°. Its cooked when it looks cooked. Take note, through the glass dish, that the base has browned.

A homemade apple pie is one of the very best desserts you can make. Done correctly it is just so much better than a bought pie that it should be against the law to call them the same thing. You need to stew the apples into a filling otherwise the pie expands and then collapses during cooking. To get extra crunch I layer pieces of raw apple into the middle of the filling. Its actually not a lot of work, 30 - 40 minutes in actual labour, (how fast can you peel apples) but it takes time to mature each process. Start the night before and get the pastry and filling done. The next morning make the pie and refrigerate till baking in the afternoon.

The lattice top really sets up a class pie. It shows you have skill with pastry. Its all about cold pie and cold pastry. Halfway through stop and refrigerate the pie and pastry. There are many shortcrust recipes. Both these work well but so do so many others. Its all about technique and time. I don't use a food processor. The pastry will be like a commercial pastry. Monotone and bland. Use the K attachment in a mixer and you will get the right texture of butter through the pastry. The pastry should be dotted with visible bits of butter throughout.

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