My First Ever Homemade Apple Pie

Well, this was by far my biggest challenge so far!! I have always cheated it when it comes to apple pie by using premade pie crusts and even apple pie filling and then adding more flavor. I was so excited to try it even though I was terribly nervous about it. The recipe I ended up using was partially Paula Deen and a few other random sources that I researched before my first attempt. Yep, that's right, I did my homework before making the pie...looking at pie crust recipes, instructions for how to make a good pie crust, looking at apple pie recipes to find just the right flavorings, etc.






So, here's the recipe...



Pie Crust:



2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

3 tablespoons granulated white sugar

1/4 vegetable shortening, cold

12 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water



In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the shortening and break it up with your hands as you start to coat it all up with flour. Add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands, a pastry blender or a fork. Work it quickly, so the butter doesn't get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse cornmeal. Add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. Bring the dough together into a ball.



When it comes together, stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. Divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a dish shape. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie. (Yields 2 9-inch pie crusts) *See suggestions/comments section for more pie crust tips.



Apple Pie Filling:



3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flower

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

7 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored and thinly sliced

1 lemon, zested and juiced

3 tablespoons butter, diced

Sugar for sprinkling



Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl. In another bowl, sprinkle apples with the lemon zest and juice and toss. Stir in the sugar mixture to evenly coat the apples.



Set aside. Roll out chilled dough into 2 circles and use 1 round to line a 9-inch pie pan. Using the tines of a fork, prick the bottom of the pie crust several times to allow steam to be released during baking and preven the crust from bubbling. Chill the other round.



Mound the apple and sugar mixture into the pie pan lined with dough. Dot with the cubed butter.



Using a pastry cutter, cut an even number of strips from the remaining rolled out dough. Transfer every other strip to the pie top and weave in the lattice by folding every other strip back onto itself and laying another strip perpendicularly. Fold the strips back across and repeat until completed.



Brush the top of the pie with milk for a brown crust, with a mixture of milk and egg yolk for a golden crust, with egg white for a shiny crust, or sprinkle with sugar for sparkly crust. (I opted to brush the top of my pie with milk.) Then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Trim the overhanging dough and crimp edges.



Bake pie for 45 minutes. Let rest 20 minutes before slicing. Serve with vanilla ice cream





SUGGESTIONS/COMMENTS:



*Pie Crust tips:

When rolling out the dough, do so on a floured surface. Flatten the dough and sprinkle lightly with flour. Using a floured rolling pin, begin rolling the dough from the center outward, turning to shape and re-flouring as needed to prevent sticking. Use light, even strokes and lift the pin up as it comes to the edge. Sprinkle flour underneat the dough occasionally to prevent sticking. Roll the dough into a circle 2 inches larger than the diameter of the pie plate.



Also with water, make sure it is ice cold and added very gradually. Too much water will make the pastry tough, while too little will make it crumbly and difficult to roll out.



Another thing to note is that it calls for cold shortening and cold butter, I kept both of mine in the fridge until I was ready to use them.

Also, I laid a piece of aluminum foil over the top of my pie for a bit so that my crust topping would not over bake or burn.

To make sure you are not getting apples that are too big or too small, here's a reference for you. One medium-sized apple is about 6 ounces, 7 medium equal 2 1/2 pounds.



RESULTS:



I won't lie this is a bit of a time consuming task but well worth it. The reviews are in and according to the average person, it's amazing. According to my baking guru, I needed to roll out the top pie crust a bit thinner for the lattice topping. This would definitely have made the lattice topping even more difficult for me to make because it was breaking as I was trying to lay it out, but it was great advice. He did think it looked awesome though so that was pretty exciting for me :) Other than that, he said it was great for my first homemade apple pie and he was really pleased :)



So, I am pretty happy to have gotten such good feedback :) I don't know when I will make another one, but I now know that I can make a homemade pie crust and apple pie filling that is crowd pleasing and pleasing to the discriminate in taste :)