Pies are the ultimate comfort food during autumn. One of the best feelings ever is reading a book on the couch with a hot drink and a slice of warm pie. While pies are popular all year round, I feel like autumn is an especially good time for a warm slice when the temperature drops outside. Apple pies are especially popular this time of the year, as it's peak apple season. Here in Finland, there are plenty of home grown apples ripe around this time of the year. So, it's perfect for apple themed baking, apple jams, juice and so on.
Ingredients
For double crust:
All-purpose flour (2 and 1/2 cups)
Butter (room temperature, 150g)
Ice cold water (1/2 cup)
Salt (1/2 tsp)
Sugar (1 Tbsp)
For pie filling:
Apples (12)
Cinnamon (3 tsp)
Flour (3 tbsp)
Granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
Butter (75g)
Water (1/2 cup)
Egg (1) for egg wash
Method
To prepare the double pie crust:
Place flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Dice the butter at room temperature into small cubes and add to the mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients.
Add 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time and keep mixing. Keep adding water until dough starts forming small clumps. Be sure to not add to much water, as the dough should not be soft.
Transfer the dough to a working surface and combine the dough into two balls. Flatten it into two equal discs. Do not kneed the dough at this point.
Chill in refrigerator for at least an hour.
Apple pie instructions:
Place the butter in saucepan over medium high heat. Add flour and continue whisking the mixture. Add water, sugar, and cinnamon, and continue whisking the mixture on medium heat. Bring the sauce to a boil and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Take the sauce off heat.
Peel the apples and slice them thinly. In a mixing bowl, combine the apple slices with the sauce. Stir to coat the apples evenly with sauce.
Sprinkle your work surface lightly with flour and start rolling out one of the pie crust discs. Roll the disc to be big enough to cover the bottom of your apple pie plate by making the diameter of the pie base 2-3 inches larger than pie dish diameter. Transfer into pie pan.
Add apple mixture into the middle of the pan and distribute the mixture.
Roll out the second pie crust into a round of the same size, and cut into 10 strips of almost equal thickness.
Place the strips as a woven lattice on top of the pie. Start by placing 5 strips in one direction with the longest piece in the middle, and shorter pieces towards the edge.
With the 5 other strips, peel back the original lattice and place a lattice strip for every alternative strip.
Bake the pie at 225 degree C for 15 minutes and continue baking at 175 degree C for another 15-20 minutes. Allow your pie to cool down for at least half an hour. Enjoy a delicious and warm apple pie!
