Apple Pie. I've made my share of pies and eaten even more, but this is the first crust I've tried. A homemade crust can make a pie lover worship a baker; it commands respect. It brings back memories of how Mom or Grandma "use to make it from scratch."
This crust of mine is not pretty, especially the bottom half. I have a lot of practice ahead of me if I expect to become an expert. Is the dough supposed to be this hard to roll out? Should I have added more ice water? My hands were warming the cold butter and shorting as I mixed them with the dry ingredients. Is that why I could not form a dough ball easily in my hands? The top crust came out much better. I was afraid to roll it out further and risk tears, so it's just a tad small; but I'll take that if it tastes good.
Buzz, Ring! Time to get the pie. OH MY GOD! Beautiful.
Of course, I would never have tried the crust without encouragement from Nic at bakingsheet. Now she is a baker I respect, no, worship! I want to include her recipe for this pie in my format, one that, for me, is easy to follow. But that will have to wait. The required 1 1/2 hours have passed -- tortuously -- and it's ready to cut.
Heaven, if there is such a place, is in my pie plate!
The chart format I am attempting for this post's recipe is eluding me just now. I'll have to hunker down and go back to Food Blog S'cool to get just what I want. Now, it is nap time.
Apple Pie
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. sugar
3/4 c. unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1/4 c. shortening, chilled
6 - 8 T. ice water
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 T. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
6 cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
extra flour for rolling
2 T. unsalted butter, (reserved)
more flour
heavy cream (optional)
cinnamon-sugar (optional)
Combine the first three items. ∗ Using fingertips, mix butter and shortening with dry ingredients until no large chunks of butter remain. Add ice water. Make two equal size dough balls in your hands (or one ball if your hands are big enough). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hr. ∗ Combine next five items. ∗ Add apples to sugar-flour-spice mixture and set aside. ∗ Roll one dough ball into disk; use flour to dust the board, pin, and dough. Use offset spatula or other "helper" to lay bottom crust in the pie plate. After bottom crust and filling are in pie plate, dot the pie filling with butter. Roll the other dough ball out, place on top of filling and butter. Press edges to top and bottom crusts together. Cut steam vents in top. Brush cream on top of pie for a darker color. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. ∗ Bake @ 425°F for 10 min. Lower temp. to 375°F and bake for 1 hr. Let pie cool for a 1 1/2 hr. minimum ... if you can!
