Classic Apple Pie

December 7, 2008

This is the apple pie I made for Thanksgiving, and it was a big hit.  Before you begin, you need a batch of pie dough.  While it is chilling in the refrigerator for an hour, you can get your pie filling ready.

I used four Fuji apples, about three pounds before trimming.  They keep their structure well during cooking, don’t turn to mush, and have pretty good flavor.  The recipe recommends 2 pounds of McIntosh, and 1 1/2 pounds of Granny Smith.  Another common apple pie apple is Golden Delicious.  Take your pick.

You’ll also need 3/4 cup of sugar (plus a little more for sprinkling), two tablespoons all-purpose flour (I might actually recommend a little more if using Fuji apples), a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, a teaspoon of grated lemon zest (note: don’t use a box grater), a 1/4 teaspoon salt, the same amount of both nutmeg and cinnamon, and one egg white, beaten lightly.

I first prepared my apples by peeling them,  removing their core, and slicing them a 1/4 inch thick.  I also mixed the sugar, flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl.  Finally, I tossed the apples with the sugar/spice mixture in a large bowl.

The hard part is rolling out the bottom and top layer of dough.  I let the dough discs warm up for about 10 minutes, floured my work surface, and rolled the first one out with a rolling pin.  The cookbook recommended rolling in one direction, turning the dough 90º, and rolling again, continuing this until it was about 12″ in diameter.  Mine wasn’t quite as pretty as the book’s, but it was round enough.

There is a secret to getting your dry pie dough into the pan without it tearing apart: roll it up around the rolling pin and unroll it into the pan.  Unfortunately I couldn’t take a picture of this, as rolling it took two hands, but just try rolling it around the pin loosely, then unrolling again.  With the dough in the pan, I pressed it into the corners.

At this point I turned my oven on to 500º F with a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom shelf.

If you follow these pound guidelines for apples, your pie will rise above the edge of the pan.  Instead of dumping the apples in, I had to place them by hand to make sure they didn’t mound up too high.  I rolled out the second half of the dough and placed it on top.

I next trimmed the extra dough from around the edge, cutting off everything but a half inch of overhang.

Finally, I pressed the top and bottom edges together, and tucked the edge back under into the pan.  If you want a fancy edge, crimp it with your fingers.

The last step is to cut four lines into the top of the dough with a sharp paring knife, brush the crust with the egg white, and sprinkle it with sugar.

To bake, I put the pie into the oven on the baking sheet and turned it down immediately (from 500º F) to 425º F.  This first stage of baking browns the crust.  After about 25 minutes (with a golden top crust) I turned the oven down again to 375º F.  The recipe says it should bake another 30-35 minutes at this temperature, but I eventually found the top crust starting to burn slightly, so I turned the temp. down to 350º F and let it finish.  The juices should be bubbling.

I let it cool to room temperature and headed out for my Thanksgiving dinner.

After eating:

Tips

• You might need more than 2 Tbsp. of flour.  My filling juices ended up slightly runny.  An alternative is cornstarch (though less of it), which I found in a different recipe.
• The Fuji apples tasted great and kept their shape.  As I mentioned above, the recipe recommended McIntosh and Granny Smith.
• Starting with a disc of dough helps significantly in rolling a circular crust.
• From recipe comparisons, this seems like a pretty basic but solid apple pie recipe.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs. Fuji apples (about 4 apples), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 3/4 cup sugar plus more for sprinkling
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour (I would recommend 3 or 4)
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 recipe pie dough
• 1 egg white, beaten lightly

Recipe:

1. Preheat your oven to 500º F with a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom rack.  Take your dough discs out of the refrigerator and let them warm up for 10 minutes.
2. Toss the apples with the sugar, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
3. Roll out your first dough disc with a rolling pin, spinning the dough 90º after each roll, until you have a circle 12″ in diameter.  Roll the dough around your rolling pin and unroll it into your pie plate.  Press the dough into the corner of the plate.  Place the apples into the pie dough, mounding them slightly in the center.  Roll out the top crust the same way as before, and place it over the top of the pie.
4. Trim excess pie dough from the edges (anything beyond a 1/2 inch).  Press the edges together and fold them back under into the pie plate.  Cut four slits in the top crust, brush the lightly beaten egg white on top, and sprinkle the whole top with a tablespoon of sugar.
5. Put the pie into the oven on the baking sheet.  Turn the temperature down immediately to 425º F.  Bake it until golden, about 25 minutes, then turn the temperature down again to 375º F.  Bake for another 30-35 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling and the crust is nicely browned.  Let the pie cool to room temperature before serving.

Recipe adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

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