Apple Pie From Scratch - The Easy Way

I haven't posted anything for quite some time now. And for all of you who have asked me the reason for my vanishing act.. Well, my excuse is an old-fashioned one, same as my recipe today. I was just too lazy. :-)

Anyway, I decided to come back with a timeless and very popular dish. Apple pie is one of my all-time favourite desserts. I just love the flavour of apple and cinnamon in this classic popular pie. 

 

This recipe will give you a buttery flaky crust with a delicious mushy filling that is best enjoyed warm with ice-cream on the side.

What we need:

For the Pie Base:  Follow my Perfect Pie Crust recipe for a six inch pie-dish.

For the Filling:

6 large apples
Sugar - 2/3 cups
All Purpose Flour – 3 tbsp
Cinnamon – ½ tsp
Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp

Egg Wash:

One Egg well beaten

How We do it:

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. You can use any one type or mix up two different kinds of apples for a more interesting flavour.

 

Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon in a large bowl. Now add the sliced apples and mix with your hands until the apples are well coated with the mixture. Finally add the vanilla.

 

Take the prepared pie base out of the refrigerator and spoon this mix into it evenly. This would settle after baking, so make sure the mix is a little over the dish.

 

Now take the second dough ball that you have set aside for the top crust. Roll it out and cut into equal 1 inch strips. Make sure it is long enough to cover the diameter of the pie. Place these strips one by one over the pie filling and gently seal the ends to the pie base.

 

Brush the egg wash on the top crust of the pie.

Preheat oven to 220^oC. Place the pie dish on the centre rack and wait till the crust turns golden, approximately 20 minutes. Now take the pie out and cover the top with an aluminium foil, so as not to burn the sides. Reduce the temperature to 180^oC and bake for another 30-40 minutes. At this point, if you take the top foil out, you should be able to see the juices bubbling inside. This means the pie is done. Take it out of the oven and let it cool.

 

The pie looks and smells so delicious at this point that it is highly tempting to cut a slice immediately. But patience is key and cutting it now will only cause the bubbling fruit filling to burn you. It needs a few hours for the filling to completely cool and settle down.

Enjoy warm Pie à la Mode with a scoop of ice cream or like I had, with a glass of Merlot. Pure Bliss!!!

 

Love to hear what you think!

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The Perfect Pie Crust – Easy as Pie

Home-made Easy Pie Crust

I love pie. I love to eat them and I love to make them.

The first few times I baked a pie, I made it with store bought ready crusts and while they turned out fine, it just never gave the pleasure that I usually get from my baking. But I always hesitated to bake my own crust as I thought it will be difficult and I may not get the right results. And at first it didn’t. But then I looked up a lot of recipes, did my own tinkering and finally came up with this fool-proof recipe that is not only easy but results in a delicious flaky-crumbly-buttery pie crust.

The same recipe can be used for sweet and savoury dishes. You just need to skip the sugar if you are making a savoury recipe. I use this recipe for my Easy Apple Pie Recipe.

I prefer to make the pastry dough on the food processor as its fast and does not create a mess. But you can use a stand mixer, hand-held or use your hand. After all, people have used their hands to mix pastry crust dough for ages. You need to follow the same instructions.

What you need:

Flour  - 2 cups (all purpose or cake flour)
Salt – ½ tsp

Powdered Sugar - 1 tbsp
Cold Butter - ¾ cup
Ice water - 6-7 tbsp
How you do it:

Combine together the flour, salt and sugar. Pulse for a minute, if using a food processor. Or else blend together using a whisk.

Now add the cold butter and mix it in.

This part is easy when you have a food processor. A few minutes and you have a crumbly batter that represents bread crumbs.

 

If using your hand, Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour. Make sure there are no large lumps of butter remaining. Work quickly so that it does not become greasy. It might be slightly more time consuming to do this with your hand and a spatula. But you can get better results because your hand will not break up the butter as much as a food processor will and thereby you get a flakier crust. But lazy folks like me stick to the machines.

Next step is to add the water. Make sure your water is Very Cold. Now, add it 2 tablespoons at a time and pulse the processor until the dough forms into a ball. 6 tablespoons usually gets me there. But it might take one or two more spoons. Even when mixing by hand, add the water gradually spoon by spoon. As too much water can ruin the dough.

Once your dough has formed a rough ball. Take it out and lightly knead it with your hands to smooth it out and make it shiny. Now divide the dough into two parts and wrap them separately in cling film and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

 

Take one of the dough balls out and roll with a lightly floured rolling pin. The rolled dough should be two to four inches more than your pie pan.  

Now carefully roll it over your rolling pin and lightly lift and place and unroll on your pie pan.

Without stretching the dough, press the pastry into your pan with your fingertips. Lightly trim off the extra dough from the edges. Cover over any imperfections using the extra dough.

 

And poke a few holes using a fork into the base of the pie. Your pie crust is ready for its filling.

Repeat steps with the other dough ball for the top crust.

Remember to refrigerate the bottom crust when rolling the top crust or when making the filling.

Once the pie is filled with your favourite filling, place top on top of filling, tuck the top under the base and lightly seal it in.

Bake pie according to recipe.

 

 

Love to hear what you think!

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