Classic Apple Pie: Take 1

Ah, September. Here in Kansas it went from summer to fall in 9.2 seconds, but at least it's still here. I love the smell of fall. There's always a scent of woodsmoke to the air, and it's moist and rainy outside. Then there's the squash and pumpkins everywhere. And my personal favorites, apples. Specifically, Honeycrisp apples. Now, most varieties are available year round. But the delectable and distinct Honeycrisp comes around only in autumn it seems. And my favorite dish, apple pie, really shows its true colors when this apple is added to the mix. I'll make apple pie any time of year, but fall is when it is the best. 


Apple pie has been a bit of a quest for me. The quintessential American dish, it is one of my favorite challenges. After perfecting my chocolate chip cookies, I turn to this pie to hone my skills. There are just so many components to it, while not hard to make a good apple pie it's difficult to make a truly great one. There's the balance of sweet and spicy in the filling, making it juicy but not runny, apples tender but not mushy. And then there's the crust, which I admit still eludes me somewhat. And no, my version is not quick, there's a lot of chilling and such involved. But it's still a good pie. So here are the results of my latest experiment, a rather successful one but still missing a little something. Look for an update later in the fall, when I try my hand at it again. 


Classic Apple Pie 


Crust
12 oz Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Sugar

6 oz Butter, chilled and cut into pieces (1.5 sticks)

2 oz Shortening, chilled and cut into pieces
3 tbsp Applejack Brandy
3 tbsp Cold Water


Filling
2 each Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, and Golden Delicious apples
1-2 tbsp Cider Vinegar
4 oz Light Brown Sugar
2 oz Granulated Sugar
1 oz Flour
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Ground Clove
1/8 tsp Ground Allspice
1/4 cup Apple Cider
4 tbsp Butter
1-2 tbsp heavy cream or milk


For the crust, measure the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter, pulsing 4-6 times. Add shortening, pulsing another 4-6 times. Mixture should be very crumbly. Drizzle in the liquids, then pulse until it starts to come together. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Divide in half by weight, working each part into a disk and wrapping in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, several hours. This also allows time for the flour to hydrate. 

<--Applejack, ask for it at your friendly neighborhood liquor store. I promise it's the only hard to find ingredient in this recipe, but it does add a ton of flavor to the crust, and per Alton Brown helps avoid too much gluten production. Now, I do mix it with water because it can be a bit strong and does end up with a bit of a crumbly crust.

 

Dry ingredients plus cold butter         After pulsing, it's crumbly

 

Now we add the shortening                And some more pulsing

 

Now we have some liquid, careful here now to now overwork the dough. It should just come together. Turn it out and make a ball. Divide in half by weight, forming each half into a disk and covering in plastic wrap. 

And the finished product, two equal portions of pie dough wrapped and ready to chill. 

Now the dough is chilling, time to make the filling!

Left to right: Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Honeycrisp

These are my favorite apples. Gives a nice balance of sweet and tart, and all have a good texture to them. Feel free to mix it up, though I'd stick with those recommended for baking. And also try and keep the amount of each variety balanced. 

To start the filling, fill a big bowl with cold water and a good splash of the vinegar. Lemon juice is traditional here, but it makes the pie too tart, and lemon does not belong in an apple pie. Cider vinegar will still keep your apples from browning, plus boost that yummy apple flavor. Now, start peeling and cutting your apples. A good vegetable peeler will do the trick, or a paring knife if you prefer. I tend to peel the whole apple before cutting. 

 

Cut in half, then in quarters. Then cut out the core on a diagonal. I then cut each quarter into four again, so I get sixteen pieces from each apple. I've found that keeps the slices thin enough to cook well. Put the slices into the water as you go.

When you're done with all the apple prep, drain them in a colander. Meanwhile, mix together the sugars, flour and spices. Combine apples, sugar mix, cider, and butter in a big pot. Cook until the mixture turns thick and gooey, and the apples start to become tender. Shouldn't take too long, and don't cook the apples all the way through. 

Doesn't this look delicious by itself?

Now, patience. The pie filling needs to go in a bowl and in the fridge (uncovered). If you put hot filling in an unbaked crust you end up with soggy crust. So let it chill long enough to be cool. Now time to assemble the pieces.

Remove the pie dough from the fridge. A couple of minutes on the counter will take the chill off and make it more pliable. Now get two good sized pieces of wax or parchment paper. Sprinkle one generously with flour, put on a disk of dough, then add more flour on top of that. Place the second sheet of paper on top of the dough and set to work with a rolling pin. Roll from the center out, rotating every few strokes or so. The crust will be fairly thin, and make sure it's big enough to fit your pie pan. I use a Pyrex 9" plate. When you're done rolling, remove the top piece of paper, flip over the pan, and then peel off the bottom piece of paper. Gently tuck the dough down into the pan, smoothing it out and making sure there's no big bubbles of air. Now you can just heap the prepared filling in the middle, spreading it out fairly evenly but letting it dome up in the middle.

  

Now repeat paper procedure with the second piece of dough, adding 6-8 slits in the crust before moving it on top of the pie. Peel off paper and trim edges with a butter knife. I just crimp mine with a fork, I haven't mastered any of the fancier finishing techniques.  

  

And there you have it, a fully assembled pie. You did preheat the oven to 400 degrees and get a cookie sheet, didn't you? A final few touches before that pie hits the heat.

Brush the top of the pie with the cream or milk. I prefer cream, but if you have none handy just use milk. If you really have strong feelings, use an egg wash (one beaten egg with a tsp of water) but I don't care for it. Then sprinkle with a little bit of granulated sugar. Then add a ring of aluminum foil or one these nifty pie rings (like $5 at BB&B, go get one.)

Voila, an apple pie. Time to bake! 

Mine took about an hour, but it will depend on your oven and other factors. I'd check it at 30 min, then frequently after 45 min. Crust should be a nice golden brown and you should see the filling bubble up in the slits. (Or drip onto the handy cookie sheet if you don't crimp your edges well, like I'm guilty of.)

Sweet, delicious apple pie. If I was thinking of it I should have gotten a picture of a slice, but whoops. 

Just take my word for it, it looked nice. And was tasty.