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Easy Apple Pie

There are nothing but smiles when I make this apple pie. The pie crust if buttery and flaky, the filling is not overly sweet nor tart. As the apples are first baked in the oven there is no need to add extra flour to absorb apple juices and prevent a soggy bottom.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 8 People
Calories 568kcal
Author Chris

Ingredients

Pie Crust

  • 250 g Unsalted Butter
  • 250 g Plain Flour
  • 1 tablespoon Caster Sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon Salt
  • 120 ml Water Chill water before use

Apple Pie Filling

  • 12 Apples Pink lady or gala apples work really well
  • 3 tablespoon Olive oil
  • 15 g Butter
  • 4 teaspoon Sugar
  • 2 teaspoon Lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon Cinnamon

Making the Pie

  • Flour for dusting your counter
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tablespoon Caster Sugar

Instructions

Making the pastry

  • Measure your cold water and store in the fridge as it's really important to ensure that the water is as cold as possible.
  • Sift the flour, salt and sugar in to a bowl.
  • Cut the butter into cubes that are roughly 1x1 centimetres cubed, then add to the flour.
  • Using the tips of your fingers, pinch each cube of butter with the flour. Do this until you have pinched each cube flat. If the butter is becoming soft and starting to melt, place the mixing bowl into the fridge for 20-30 minutes to firm up the butter.
  • Pour all the cold water over the squashed butter and flour and begin to squash everything together. Try to do this with the tips of your fingers as we want to keep the butter as cool as possible.
  • Once the everything starts to come together, turn the bowl out to a floured surface and bring everything together till it holds. Remember not to kneed the dough like bread as this will over work the gluten. 
  • Flour the work surface again and use a rolling pin to make a 25x35 cm rectangle. Use enough flour to make sure that nothing sticks to the counter or rolling pin.
  • With the long edge of the dough going across the counter, grab each side and fold it so the edges meet in the middle. Then fold the left edge so it meets the other edge, kind of like closing a book.
  • Cut the dough in half with a knife and wrap each of the blocks with cling film and place in the fridge for at least an hour. This allows the butter to firm up again, and allows the gluten to relax.

Apple Pie Filling

  • Pre heat oven to 180 C (355 F)
  • Peel and core all of the apples. Then slice so they are about 1 cm thick. Don't worry if they are not exactly 1 cm thick as long as they are roughly uniform in thickness so they cook at the same rate.
  • Add the apples to a roasting tray and mix in with the olive oil to help with the browning.
  • Roast the apples for about 50 minutes, but check in on them every 15-20 minutes so you can turn them so they brown evenly.
  • Once the apples feel that they are nicely cooked, you can take them out of the oven and add the sugar, lemon, cinnamon and butter.  You can adjust the amount of sugar, lemon, and cinnamon depending on how sweet and tart the apples are.
  • Allow the filling to cool completely before using in the pie. 

Making the Pie

  • Get a 9-inch pie dish and apply butter to the inside to prevent the dough from sticking and set to one side.
  • Get one of your pre-chilled blocks of pasty from the fridge and place it on to a floured worktop and roll it out so it is about 5 cm wider than your pie dish.
  • Gently transfer the rolled pie base on to the pie dish and carefully push the dough into all of the corners so the dough is in contact with all parts of the pie dish. 
  • Take the cooled filling and add it to the pie. Make sure that the filling is spread nice and evenly across the base, but make sure that you do not poke any holes in the base.
  • Roll out the second half of the pastry block so it is big enough to cover the pie with a 2-3 cm overlap.
  • Before adding the lid to the pie, make sure to brush the edges of the pie with a beaten egg as this will ensure that the lid is sealed properly.
  • Gently transfer the pastry lid on to the pie and crimp the edges to form a nice seal.
  • Cut a hole in the middle of the pie to allow the excess steam to escape while the pie is cooking.
  • Brush the top of the pie with more of the egg wash and then sprinkle some caster sugar on top.
  • You can then proceed to bake the pie straight away, but ideally, you will allow the pie to chill in the fridge for 1 hour to allow the gluten to relax and prevent any shrinkage, this also ensures the butter is really cold to allow for a flaky rise in the oven.
  • Bake in a pre-heated oven (190C) and bake for 40-45 minutes. Once cooked let the pie rest for 10 minutes before eating.

Nutrition

Calories: 568kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 102mg | Potassium: 343mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 1005IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 2mg