All Delicious Apple Pie

Who does not love apple pie? Yes that's right, literally no one. Especially apple pie à la Mode. You can't get better than that. The other night my sister and I were craving just that, so we decided to whip one up. This recipe happened to produce probably one of the best apple pies I've had in my life. The crust was wonderfully flaky and the consistency of the filling was marvelous…2o minutes out of the oven and it still held its shape when the hot pie was cut. 

The recipe below is slightly adapted from the recipe in the wonderful book Baking by Dorie Greenspan. 
All Delicious Apple Pie 

For a 9 inch double crust

{ 3 cups all-purpose flour / 1/4 cup sugar / 1 1/2 teaspoons salt /
 2 1/2 sticks very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces /
1/3 cup very cold (frozen is good here too) vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces /
about 1/2 cup ice water }

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and softening are cut into the flour. Don't overdo the mixing--what you're aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on an doff, gradually add about 6 tablespoons of the water--add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn't look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the ought out of the work bowl and onto a work surface. 

Divide the dough in half. Gather each half into a ball, flatten each ball into a disk and wrap each half in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour before rolling. 

Preparing the crust

Butter a 9-inch pie plate.

Working on a well-floured surface, (between wax paper or plastic wrap works even better!), roll out one piece of dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch*. Fit the dough into the buttered pie plate and trim the edges to a 1/2-inch overhang. Roll the other piece of dough into a 1/8-inch-thick circle and slip it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Cover both the circle and the crust in the pie plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes, while you preheat the oven and prepare the filling. (You could also cover and keep it refrigerated overnight.) 

*An important rule in pie crusts is to try not to roll out the pie crusts more than once. The more you work pie crust, the tougher the dough gets, resulting in a less flaky, less delicious crust. If it cracks or breaks on the first roll out, piece it back together carefully. Whatever you do, do not ball it up and re-roll it. 

Filling and baking 

{ 3 pounds apples / 1/2 cup sugar / grated zest of 1 lemon / 
2 tablespoons quick-coking tapioca / 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon / 
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg / 1/4 teaspoon salt /
 2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs (or dry bread crumbs) / 
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits }

For the glaze 

{ milk or heavy cream / granulated sugar }

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Peel, core and slice the apples. Cut either chunks or slices around 1/4 inches thick. Put the apples into a large bowl and add the sugar, lemon zest, tapioca, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss everything together really well--I do this with my hands. If you've got a little time, let the mix sit for about 5 minutes, until juice starts to accumulate in the bottom of the bowl. 

Remove the pie plate and top crust from the refrigerator and put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the crust--this will help keep it from getting too soggy--and then turn the apples and their juices into the curst. The apples will heap over the top of the crust. Pat them into an even mound. Dot the apples with the bits of butter. 

Very lightly moisten the rim of the bottom crust with water, then center the top crust offer the apples. (If the crusts--top and bottom--are still very cold and in danger of cracking when you work with them, let them sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes.) Either fold the overhang from the top crust under the bottom crust and crimp the crust attractively, or press the top crust against the bottom crust and trim the overhang from both crusts even with the rim of the pie plate. If you've pressed and trimmed the crust, use the tines of a fork to press the two crusts together securely. 

Use a sharp paring knife to cut about 6 slits in the top crust. I always use the wide end of a piping tip to cut a circle out of the center of the crust as a steam vent. Then, brush the top crust with a little milk or cream and sprinkle it with sugar.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake the pie for another 50-60 minutes (total baking time is between 65 and 75 minutes), or until the crust is gorgeously browned and the juices bubble up through the top crust. After about 40 minutes in the oven, if the top crust looks as if it's browning too quickly, ocever the pie loosely with a foil tent. (The crust ended up looking beautifully browned after40 minutes, so I ended up covering it)

Transfer the pie to a rack and let it rest until it is only just warm or until it reaches room temperature. 

I recommend the just warm version…served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Yum!