It was my daughter’s Birthday recently. I have been promising to make her an apple pie for months now so we made a deal, I’d make the pie for her birthday. The only condition was that it all had to be homemade, no store bought pie cases or ready-made pastry, everything from scratch. This of course, was the whole reason I had been dragging my feet on the apple pie project from the start. I make a mean apple pie but I have to make it from scratch, it’s just a personal preference, I don’t like to use pre-made pastry products for an apple pie. Trouble is, I HATE to make pastry.
I am good at it, it isn’t complicated but for some reason, I just don’t like to do it. So I don’t.
For my girl, for her birthday, I did.
And I made sure I made a whole lot so that I could make another few things while I had nice homemade pastry on hand. I always make a short pastry without sugar so it does nicely for both sweet and savoury applications.
To make the extra pastry I used 2 cups flour & 1 cup butter, this made a lidded apple pie, a quiche and another open fruit pie.
Apple Pie
Pastry
225g flour
100g butter
pinch of salt
cold water
Filling
5 or 6 apples, cored, peeled and sliced (whatever will fit into your pie dish, the more the better I think)
1 Tbls lemon juice
5 cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ cup sugar (I like my apples tart, adjust sugar to your liking)
Sift flour and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. Add butter and rub lightly into flour with your fingertips until it combines and resembles breadcrumbs. Add a small amount of cold water and cut in with a knife. Add additional water as needed and once it begins to combine begin to work it with your hands into a ball. Chill the pastry while you prepare the apple filling.
Stew the apples with all other ingredients; either on the stove or in the microwave. Remember to count the cloves so that you can remove them all prior to making the pie. Once the apples have begun to break apart remove them from the heat and remove the cloves.
Roll out half of your pastry until it is the correct size for your pie dish. Place pastry in dish and slice of any overhang. Fill pie base with the apple. Roll our remaining pastry to create a lid. Dampen base edges and place pastry lid over pie, use a fork or fingers to crimp the edges down.
Cut a cross in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar if desired.
Cook pie in a 180C oven for 40 mins or until golden brown.
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