There are two key points to keep in mind when making the perfect pie. First, you have to pick the right kind of apples. You should be looking for hard apples with a bit of tart to them Granny Smiths are the most perfect ones. But you can also use Pink Lady or Royal Gala. Second important point is the pastry. It has to be short for and that you need to use cold butter and water. And you have to use as little water as you can get away with. And you shouldn’t over work the dough as we don’t want those gluten strands to over develop.
To make my pie even more extra special I add crushed walnuts to the mix and use brown sugar to give a caramel taste to the filling. Of course you can choose not to do so if you wish.
To know how to make apple pie my way please watch the following video:
Ingredients:
Filling:
- 7 apples
- 1/2 up brown sugar
- 45 grams butter
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup crushed walnuts (optional)
Dough:
- 2 1/2 cups AP flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 215 grams cold butter cubed
- pinch of salt
- 1 cold egg
- Around 100 ml chilled water
Tips:
- It’s better to use hard apples as they will hold their shape after cooking and baking and not turn into a mush.
- You can use white sugar instead of brown sugar in the filling
- You can add any kind of nuts you want like walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts. You can also use any kind of spices you want like cinnamon or cloves.
- When making the dough make sure that everything is really cold; butter, egg and water.
- Don’t overwork the dough as this will stop the dough becoming short and melt-in-your-mouth.
- Leave the dough to rest int he fridge before rolling it.
- Before baking you can brush the pie with an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake the pie in a preheated oven at 180C for 45 mins or until the pie becomes golden.
- You can eat apple pie warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.