Month o' Pies, Week 2: Apple Pie

Three pounds of apples down, six more to go (more applesauce and apple crumble, I am thinking; but that's neither here nor there).

Last week I naïvely thought that making a pie a week meant that I couldn't realistically eat all the pie without some help and would have to give some pieces away (or at least freeze for the future). I am often stingy with the food I make, though; it is crafted from expensive, thoughtfully sourced ingredients and put together in an extremely time-consuming fashion, and frankly - most people don't care, they just want free food. Nonetheless! 'Tis the season for generosity! For charity! For giving and sharing and selflessness! Besides, how can I possibly consume a whole pie in a week by myself?

I don't know, but somehow I managed. The lime'on meringue pie was quite delicious, might I add, but I must now experience the karmic nagging pangs of guilt of not sharing such a bounty. This week will be different. I have apples up the creek (and they were free). I can give some of this away. I intend to. Maybe I'll bring it into work.

Some of it, anyway.

(Maybe my New Year's resolution should be to be less of a greedy fat kid)

This is one of the easiest pies to make. No beating of egg whites or chilling dough 32984029384 times. You can even slice it warm. It's not an all-day pie. In short, anyone can make it, as long as they have the ingredients, a pie pan, a rolling pan, and a working oven. Or if you're crafty, maybe only the first one.

The no-chill-required dough I must credit to my mum, although I made some changes to it to suit my tastes.


APPLE PIE

Pie
3 lbs apples, whatever variety as long as there's something tart in there - I had a mix of Granny Smiths and Golden Delicious and Gala
1 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
fresh grated nutmeg (how much? I don't know, maybe 1/8 tsp)

Crust
2 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt (next time, I will increase this to 1 tsp)
1/3 cup shortening (again, try to spring for a non-hydrogenated, organic brand like Jungle. Spectrum works in a pinch, but is a bit crumbly for my taste)
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
5-7 tbsp cold water

1. Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples. Ha! I did this last week and froze them. So it was pretty easy for me, I just put them in a bowl. Anyway, they should be less than 1/2-inch thick, or they won't cook all the way. I don't like crunchy apples in my pie. Toss them with the lemon juice.

Mine are a little brown from freezing and thawing. I don't really care; they're going in a pie.

2. In another bowl, whisk the sugar for the pie with the flour, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. This is your pie seasoning. Don't put it on the apples yet, they'll get too soupy as they sit. Make sure you mix the sugar well with the other stuff, because otherwise it may not mix evenly with the apples. I don't like encountering pockets of nutmeg in my food, and you probably don't either.



Set this, and the apples, aside for later.

3. In a largish bowl, whisk the flour for the crust with the sugar and salt to combine. Then cut in the shortening with a fork or pastry blender and mix as well as you can, so it looks kind of like wet sand. Except more like fatty flour.



4. Add the butter to the flour and shortening, and cut that in too. If the pieces are too big to start with, you'll have to work harder. You want to blend it pretty well. The whole thing should be kind of a pale yellow, but you don't want it to be so well blended that there aren't itty pieces of butter here and there in it.



5. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of water over the whole thing and quickly fold with a spatula to combine as much as you can. Add a few more, and do the same thing. Don't add any more than 7. After about 5, it should look kind of shaggy, like this:



When you get there, you just need a smidgen more water. Add it and continue to fold.

6. When you think you have enough water in there for the dough to stick together, or you've reached 7 tablespoons, take the dough out onto the counter and squoosh it together a few times with your hands. Don't ever overwork it. Just make it come together in a cute ball.



7. Separate the ball into two equal-sized pieces. These will be your top and bottom crusts. Flour the counter, put one piece of dough on it, and flour the dough. You're ready to start rolling it out.



8. Roll it, rotating it as you go so you roll all parts evenly. When it cracks, just pinch it back together. If it starts to stick, flour the top and flip it over. Try to keep it circular.



It should end up to be about 1/8-1/4-inch thick.

9. You can now transfer it to your 9-inch pie plate. Fold in quarters and quickly pick it up and plop it in, and unfold it again. Make sure you ease it into the corners of the pan.



Leave the overhang for now.

10. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out the second piece, the same as the first. Leave it on the counter and work on the apples.

Toss the apples with the spiced sugar mixture, until the sugar appears to dissolve and the apples let out a bunch of liquid.



Then you can put the apples in the bottom crust...



...and the top crust on the apples.



11. Trim the crust all the way around so you have an even amount of overhang all around (about half an inch). If there are some lacking areas, supplement with the cut-off scraps. Then pinch the top and bottom crusts together and fold everything underneath so you get a rounded edge all around that is flush with the pie dish.



Flute! However you prefer.



Cut some slits in the top. They don't have to be fancy.



12. Place the whole pie in the middle of the oven, with a baking sheet under it (on the next rack down, preferably) to catch any fruit juice that bubbles up through, because there probably will be some. Bake for an hour.

In the meantime, you need to do something with your pie crust scraps.



Some people make cookies with them (sprinkle sugar on the top and bake). Some people throw them out. Some people even eat them. Really, who would do that?



I won't tell if you won't.

13. When your pie is done, it should be a light golden brown, with the edges a little darker, and fruit juice may or may not have come bubbling up through the crust. If so, that just means your pie is wild and free. Take pride.

Happy holidays, and joyful baking!