An Apple Pie a Day Keeps the Autumn Blues Away
Leaves are beginning to tumble Earthward, and the crisp chill of Autumn air is finally creeping in at night. With these telltale signs that Autumn is approaching, my desire to bake has increased tenfold. To kickstart the season's baking adventures, I decided to make a classic and seasonal treat: apple pie.
Here is the recipe I used, which is an amalgamation of a few recipes I found online.
Ingredients:
For Filling
900 grams/6-8 Apples (any variety, I used Discovery)
1 tbsp (15ml) lemon juice
1/2 cup (110g) packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (30g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
For Crusts
2 pie crusts (homemade or store bought, I used organic store bought)
1 small egg
The first place to start with any Apple Pie is the apples. I bought organic English-grown 'Discovery' apples at my local health food store, and took care to pick the best apples I could find. Good apples are firm all over, appropriately heavy for their size, and depending on the variety, they might smell of, well, apples. Since these organic apples were on the smaller size, I bought 8, which weighed right around 900 grams in total.
Before I began anything else, I left my shortcrust pastry out on the counter for 60 minutes before beginning to prep, to make sure it had softened sufficiently by the time I needed it.
I then began peeling and coring my apples, after rinsing and drying them. To keep them from browning too quickly, I kept the peeled and cored apples in a bowl in the fridge while I finished up the others.
I was astonished by this one apple which had pink flesh!
Once all the apples had been peeled and cored, I cut them in half vertically, and then sliced them into thin uniform slivers, about 1/8 of an inch thick. I poured one tablespoon of lemon juice over the apples, and briefly tossed them so they were evenly coated. It is best to use fresh lemon juice if possible, but I used bottled lemon juice which worked just fine.
Next I prepared my dry mix of brown sugar, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, and mixed spice.
I gently whisked these ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
It was then time to add the dry mix to the apples and lemon juice. I really got in there with my hands and made sure they were evenly coated, making sure to get to the bottom where a small puddle collected. The combination should feel like a gritty paste. At this point I turned my oven on to 200C/400F.
It was finally time to turn to the crust. I bought an organic pre-made shortcrust pastry, because I wanted to save some time, but also wanted my crust to taste delicious. The brand I used came as two squares, as pictured on the left.
I took one at a time, and kneaded it briefly until it was a smooth, round patty as seen on the right. I dusted my work surface and rolling pin with flour, and then gently began stretching my dough patty out with the rolling pin.
I find that maintaining the round shape desirable for a pie is best achieved by rolling the dough out in four directions, making an X. Then fill in the other four directions in between where the lines of the X would be. I then rotate the dough about 180 degrees and repeat, as it is difficult to roll with even pressure in every direction.
Once the first patty was a thin pie crust that looked like it would cover the bottom of my pie dish, I gently transferred it to the pie dish, being careful not to tear it.
I followed the same process with the second sheet of pastry. This time however, I was less concerned with a round shape as I intended to cut it into strips for a lattice, so the misshapen sort-of-rectangle I ended up with was okay. I cut off the ends which were too small to make strips, and used them to fill some gaps in my base crust, gently pressing the new pieces over the base with some overlap so that they melded together. I then cut the remaining shortcrust into 12 strips of relatively even width.
At this point it was time to fill the pie, so I transferred the apples into the pie dish, making sure to fill it evenly, and I arranged the apples on top to that they were flat an appealing to look at. I was also sure to exclude any liquid, as it makes the pie soggy. There was a significant amount at the bottom of the bowl, which frankly I drank because it was sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice and it was delicious!
I had never done a lattice on a pie before, so I looked up a tutorial, which I have linked below because it explains it better than I ever could! Overall it is a very quick and impressive way to top a pie.
As many of the strips of pastry were longer than the pie dish, I trimmed them and combined them into another pastry patty. I rolled it out and used it to make some Autumnal decorations. I made these leaves by tracing a common household teaspoon with the tip of a knife, and making a template leaf to trace. I then followed the same shape, adding points on either end.
Next I gently etched simple lines on the leaves to give them dimension, being careful not to cut through my pastry with the knife. I arranged the leaves over the centre of the pie, and finished them with a little pasty berry.
The final step before popping this beauty into my piping hot oven was to brush it with an egg wash. Egg wash gives pastry the golden brown marbling and slight sheen that makes a dessert to enticing! Using my pastry brush, I made sure to get each strand of the lattice, the leaves, and the edges of the base crust around the side. Use a small egg if you have one, as you don't need very much.
Put your pie in the oven at 200C/400F for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 190 and bake for an additional 25-35 minutes. Your pie should be golden brown and the filling should bubble slightly. If you feel like your pie is getting too dark but the filling is not bubbling, cover it with tinfoil and check in 10 minute intervals until you are satisfied.
The final step is to allow your pie to cool COMPLETELY. I know, there is scarcely anything on this earth more tempting than hot and fragrant apple pie, but I promise you it is worth the wait! If you allow the pie to cool, you are allowing it to set properly, so when you do get to cut into it, each piece will hold together beautifully, and your pie will look as lovely as it tastes!
Happy Autumn, and happy baking!
