Living in Pennsylvania, a part of how I grew up was eating two types of pies. Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie. When I started making homemade apple pies, I was intimidated to create the perfect homemade apple pie. Apple pies do take lots of steps, but once you learn the process and some baking science tips, they are absolutely easy.
This is a holistic recipe that includes how to prepare pie dough and how to assemble the apple pie.
Ingredients
1 c. All-Purpose Flour, x2 to create to pie doughs
1 tsp. Salt, x2
1 Tbsp. White Sugar, x2
2/3 c. Butter, unsalted, chilled, sliced, x2
¾ c. Ice Water, x2
3 lb. Honeycrisp Apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1/3 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 c. White Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Cinnamon
Flour, for rolling
2 Tbsp. Softened Butter, unsalted, cubed
2 Tbsp. Milk
1 Tbsp. White Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
Directions for Apple Pie
- Prep ice water. Combine the dry ingredients, flour, salt, sugar. Prep chilled butter by slicing it into tablespoon size. Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pastry blender, scraping down occasionally. Add 4 tablespoons of ice water, stirring in with a fork. Repeat with 4 more tablespoons of ice water. Use hands to finish mixing process, adding 4-5 more tablespoons of ice water. Form into a dough ball. Cover with press-n-seal, shape into a disk, and refrigerate while prepping the next ingredients. Repeat this step to have two pie disks for a traditional homemade apple pie.
- Combine apple pie filling in a medium bowl, including flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
- Peel, core, and slice apples. Cook apples on medium burner on a medium heat, until apples are soft, to evaporate extra water content. Stir occasionally.
- Remove pie dough from refrigerator. Prepare a silicone rolling mat with a fine layer of flour. Tap down the pie dough with a rolling pin, first north-south, then east-west, then northeast to southwest, and northwest to southeast. Flip the dough over, removing any excess flour from the new top side. Repeat tapping once or twice until dough is a manageable size to roll out. Roll out the dough, never letting the rolling pin push off the dough. Follow the compass pattern as stated before. Flip the dough before rolling a second time.
Pie dough may crack at this stage, but that is usually from the dough being too dry. Sprinkle some cold water on the crack and work the dough back together before continue rolling. - Roll the pie dough onto the rolling pin to transfer to a glass pie pan. Gently place the pie dough into the pan, lifting up some of the dough to then place it further into the pan. Trim off excess dough, following the sides of the pie pan. Cover with a generous amount of press-n-seal, placing back in the refrigerator to stay chill. Side note: a cool in-closed porch or garage would work as well if the refrigerator is too full.
Repeat step 4, except this will be for the top. Place the pie dough onto a pizza pan and cover with press-n-seal. Another option is to place majority of the pie dough onto a large baking sheet, cover what is available with press-n-seal. Then fold the pie dough over the press-n-seal and cover the entire pan. Refrigerate to chill, 20-30 minutes. - Transfer the cooked apples to a large mixing bowl, using a large pasta server. Combine with half the dry filling ingredients, stir with a sturdy wooden spoon, and then add the rest of the dry filling ingredients.
- Pre-heat the oven 350°F.
- Prep the tablespoons of softened butter, cube. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place pie pan with the pie dough on the baking sheet. Scoop the apple filling with a large pasta serve into the pie dough. Spread out the apples. Add the cubes of butter on top of the apples. Add the top pie dough. Take the edges together, folding down.
- So this next step may seem extremely out of the ordinary. Because it is. I accidently did this one time, but loved the results. With the two sections of the pie crust together, trim the excess of the sides. Pinch together, and then crimp the sides with your thumbs or your knuckles. In your dominate hand, use your thumb and index finger; in your other hand, use your thumb. Or use the knuckles of your index and middle finger of your dominate hand and the knuckle of your index finger of your other hand. Crimp once, and then where it leaves off, crimp again.
- Brush milk onto the top of the pie. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon as well. Make 5 slits into the top of the crust. This allows stem to escape during baking. Cover with a pie shield.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes with the pie shield on. Take the pie shield off, and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Let pie cool completely before serving homemade apple pie.
