American Apple Pie

Filling

1. Don’t make apple pie with soft, sweet fruit. Most likely it will lose its shape and collapse, and the filling will turn runny, like jam. Granny Smith apples are sold everywhere and they’re the best choice. Or, if you have options, buy large green apples with firm flesh and a distinctly tart flavor. Ideally they shouldn’t be too juicy or astringent.

   

2. Make the sugar mixture: in a small bowl, combine the zest of half a lemon, 1 cup white sugar (180 g), 1 tbsp lemon juice, 0.5 tsp nutmeg and 1 tsp ground cinnamon (3 g). You’ll get a grainy, slightly moist mixture that gives the apple filling its flavor and aroma. By the way, apples oxidize and brown quickly, so work fast from here on.

   

3. Peel and slice the apples: wash and peel them, cut each one in half and remove the core and seeds. Slice the flesh into long wedges 1.5-2 cm wide. The pieces should be noticeably thick so the filling holds its shape better. Put them into a deep glass or porcelain bowl.

   

4. Sprinkle the slices with the sugar mixture, toss gently so the sugar is spread evenly, and leave for 30 minutes. During this time the sugar will almost completely dissolve and a little liquid will appear, and you’ll have just enough time to make the dough. This liquid isn’t used in the filling — add it to your tea instead of lemon, you’ll love it.

   

Dough

1. The dough can be mixed by hand or with a mixer fitted with dough hooks.

2. Mix the dough base: chop the softened butter into pieces and combine it with one egg (the second one is for brushing the pie). Add 0.5 tsp salt (3 g), the zest of half a lemon, 2 tbsp brown sugar (27 g) and 4 tbsp room-temperature boiled water. Mix until smooth.

   

3. Add 2 cups flour (260 g) and knead the dough. It should be firm and soft, and not stick to your hands at all. Divide it into two parts, roll them into balls and let them rest a little, in the fridge if you like. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C.

   

Assembling the pie

1. Line the pan with dough. Take a 28-30 cm pan with high sides and grease it with butter. On a floured surface, roll one ball of dough out thin with a rolling pin so the sheet is larger than the pan, allowing for the sides plus a few extra centimeters. Lay it in the pan, smoothing it over the bottom and up the sides so it hangs slightly over the edges.

   

3. Layer the filling. Lift the apple slices out of the bowl, leaving the liquid behind, and arrange them tightly on the dough so they cover the bottom completely. Sprinkle the fruit with flour — 1-2 tsp (3–7 g) is enough. Add another layer of apples on top and dust it with flour too. Ideally the pan is deep enough for a third layer — pile it into a dome and press down a little so the filling is packed tight.

   

4. Cover the filling with the second sheet of dough. We’re making a double-crust apple pie, so roll the second ball into a circle slightly larger than the pan, cover the filling with it and press lightly with your palms. Fold or crimp the edges of the top and bottom crusts together all the way around. You can make a decorative edge if you like, but it’s not essential. If there’s a lot of excess dough at the edges, trim it off.

   

5. Cut the slits and brush the top. With a knife, cut a hole in the middle of the top crust to let steam escape, and 8-10 short slits from the center toward the edge — they’ll open up nicely during baking. Beat the second egg, brush it over the surface of the dough and sprinkle with 1 tsp sugar (5 g).

   

Baking

1. Put the pie on the middle rack of the oven preheated to 180°C and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden. If you want a deep golden, crisp crust, you can bake it up to 1 hour. Just be sure to keep an eye on it so the crust doesn’t start to burn.

   

2. Take the finished pie out of the oven and let it cool for about 1 hour. Then carefully remove it from the pan — with a springform pan there’s no trouble at all. That said, apple pie comes out of a regular pan easily too.

Serving

1. Transfer the pie to a board and cut it into slices. And this matters: they should be big — that’s the whole point and the whole pleasure.

   

   Put the slices on plates and dust with powdered sugar, like a charlotte. Serve the pie cooled, as a dessert or with tea. The filling hardly runs and the apple pieces keep their shape, so you can eat it out of hand.