My Homemade Traditional Apple Pie
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp raw caster sugar
250g organic unsalted butter
1/4 cup milk
1kg apples
1/8 cup raw caster sugar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp cinnamon
Method
First, make the pastry. Have a bowl ready.
Chop the chilled butter into cubes and place on a bench with the flour and salt.
Use a rolling pin to roll the butter with the flour.
Do this for about a minute then return to the fridge in a bowl to re-chill the butter.
This is important as we are making nice flaky pastry and the butter has to remain cold to form layers without melting and forming globs.
Roll the mixture again, folding over a few times to keep mixture together.
Return to the bowl and add the milk. Bring together with your hands.
Separate into two balls (1/3 and 2/3 of the mix)
Refridgerate both, separately covered in plastic wrap.
Meanwhile, weigh out just under a kilo of mixed apples.
Peel (a ceramic peeler was excellent here), core and slice the apples.
Add cinnamon, sugars and salt. Leave in bowl to macerate for 15 minutes.
Make a tea...peruse the garden...
Then, place the apples in a sieve or colander above the bowl to allow the juices to drain out.
While waiting for the apples to drain, roll out the pastry and line to pie dish.
Place larger refridgerated pastry on a well floured benchtop.
Allow to warm up for about 5 minutes then start rolling out.
Roll to the size of the pie dish plus an extra 10cm for the edges.
Lay pastry over pie dish
Trim edges with a sharp knife
Place in the fridge covered in plastic wrap.
Back to the apples: reduce the apple juices in a saucepan by about one third so they are syrupy.
Pour back into bowl with apples and add the cornflour and mix well.
Add this to the pie and return to the fridge.
Roll out the remaining dough into strips and make a lattice over the pie.
Place in fridge covered for 30 minutes to allow the pastry to relax.
Preheat oven to 190 C, then bake for approximately 40-45 minutes.
Serve with creamy chardonnay!
