Advice On Making An Apple Pie From Scratch

by coffeegrace

posted on 07/02/2009

The all American classic dessert, apple pie is sweet and comforting. I love to make them at all our holiday gatherings, and have made so many that I can crank a pie out on short order. Now, you will find lots of fancy recipes, but I find that a simple apple pie is delicious and easy. Once you get the hang of it, you can easily share this delicious home-made treat with your family and friends.

The Crust
People seem to think that making a pie crust from scratch is something akin to churning your own butter. It's really not that difficult and the taste far surpasses those pre-made, crust-lined pie tins.

First put a cup of ice water in the freezer. You want it to develop a thin layer of ice, not to be frozen solid, so if you're taking a long time you should check on it. Pour 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour into a bowl and mix in 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Now you are going to need a pastry blender. The first time I did this I used two knives, but I don't recommend it. Pastry blenders are right in the baking supplies aisle of any store, and are pretty inexpensive. Cut 3/4 a cup of shortening into the flour mixture. So, this means take 3/4 a cup of Crisco, or whatever brand you like. They actually make it like sticks of butter you can cut, so measuring is easy. Dump shortening into bowl and mash it repeatedly with the pastry blender cutting it and combining it into the flour. Do this for a minute or two and the mixture will look like a bunch of little balls, some pea sized and many will be much smaller with some almost like corn meal. Now you're ready for that water!

The ice water trick I sort of stumbled on. I knew the water needed to be cold, then I figured that if the water was almost frozen, it would hold my dough together even better. You take 6 to 7 tablespoons of the ice water and ladle over flour mixture, while mixing with a fork between every couple spoonfuls. If your dough comes together with less water, good! Your crust will be nice and flaky. Avoid using extra water though, as that will make your dough tougher.

Now take your ball of pastry dough into your hands and separate into two equal balls. Place one back in bowl with a moist paper towel draped over it. Place the other onto a floured surface for rolling. Roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it's a little larger than your 9" pie tin. Carefully lift (using a pastry scraper helps) and drape over the pie tin. Then press the dough into the tin and form the crust along the edge.

The Filling
Peel and quarter about 6 Granny Smith apples. Then cut out the seeds and core from the quarters and slice into somewhat smaller pieces. You can use an apple corer if you have one, but I never bother. Toss the apples with 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour. Pour into your prepared pie tin and dot with about 2 tablespoons of butter. Dotting with butter means to sprinkle little pieces of butter over the filling.

The Top Crust
Take that second ball of dough, roll it out just like the first time. You can choose between a lattice crust or a regular one. If you go regular, just drape the dough over the filled pie and press the edges together with a fork. Then you need to cut some vents, which you can get creative with; little Autumn leaves are adorable.

I prefer the lattice crust. First you cut that rolled out dough into strips, ending up with strips of varying lengths. Take some and drape over the pie all going in one direction, with the longest in the middle and getting shorter on the ends. Then turn the pie around and drape the long middle piece onto pie going in the other direction. Then you need to weave it in, so carefully put it over and under the crust strips it's sitting on. Then work your way out from either side of the middle weaving the strips in. If it's not perfect, don't worry about it, noone will notice anyway.

Baking
Stick it in the center of an oven preheated to 425 degrees, let it bake for 10 minutes and then lower the heat to 350 and bake another 30 minutes.

Voila! Your house is filled with the aromatic scent of apples and cinnamon, and you will have a hot, delicious, 100% made from scratch apple pie. Yum!

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KarrlahBlue says:

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