Apple Pie
Ingredients
- 350 gr. (12 oz.) shortcrust pastry
- see below *
- Approx. 6 apples, Braeburn are nice
- * (see below)
- Granulated sugar, to taste
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- * The quantity of pastry is the amount of pastry made using 350 gr. (12 oz.) flour and not the total of ingredients. The weight of the fats used should total half the weight of the flour.
- Preheat oven to 200°C (first 10 mins then decrease to 190°C)
- 1 x Large Pyrex pie plate 1 x perforated pizza pan or baking sheet
Method
* To prevent the pastry on the base of the pie undercooking due to the filling being too ‘wet’, use apples cut into chunks and cooked as below. I sometimes use 2 or 3 dessert apples (cooked) and mixed into some ready puréed apple from our apple tree which are slightly tart and which I usually have in the freezer. Use the apples you prefer. Barely defrosted apple purée is good to use so that everything is kept cold before baking.
Peel and chop the apples into small chunks. Place in pan with sugar to taste and about 1 tbsp. water. Cook until softened and almost no water remains. Keep an eye on them as they are cooking, you want them to be quite dry but softened. Place in a sieve to get rid of as much liquid as you can. Cool. Sprinkle in 1 tsp. cinnamon. It's best if the filling is cold before you use it.
Place a perforated pizza pan or baking sheet in the preheated oven (200°C).
Take half the pastry and roll out, not too thinly, to line the plate. At this point the plate can be put in the fridge to keep it cool, whilst rolling out the second piece of pastry.
Spoon over the apple filling and cover. Dampen the edges with a little water and crimp the edges together with your fingers. At this stage the pie can again be put in the fridge to keep it cold.
Take the trimmings and roll out to make pastry leaves.
Decorate the top of the pie with the leaves and brush the top with egg wash or milk. Make 4 or 5 snips with scissors to let the steam escape. Sometimes, for a change, I brush the top with egg white and sprinkle over granulated sugar to get a crisp topping.
Place pie on the preheated pizza pan/baking sheet and bake in hot oven at 200°C for first 10 minutes, then decrease to 190°C for approx. 10-15 minutes more, until nicely browned.
Note: It helps to brush egg white over the pastry base and letting it dry a little before putting on a fruit that may be too juicy. This helps to prevent it from softening the base. Also a couple tbsp. of cornflour helps to soak up the juices and thicken the filling.
Variations:
Apple and strawberry / Apple and blackcurrant
Blueberry (pile 400 gr. /14 oz.) uncooked blueberries into centre of pie, sprinkle over 2 tbsp. cornflour and 2 tbsp. sugar) This is one of my favourites!
Apple and cherry (use 2 or 3 apples and a tin of cherry pie filling)
