All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie

I am still riding on the hype about Dorie Greenspan, and since I have already professed my undying adoration about her, here yea is a recipe from her "Baking, From my home to yours" cook book that will bowl you over, All American, All-Delicious Apple Pie.

Truth be told, I am not really big about apple pies. If presented with an array of dessert pieces, a slice of apple pie would be at the bottom of my list. BUT this Dorie Greenspan's apple pie made me see a whole new world. And made me a convert. Big time. 

I can bake this apple pie many times over in a day and I will neither complain nor get tired. The first time I made it, I fell in love. And I couldn't stop eating it either. The only thing that is stopping me from baking this pie right now is the scary thought that I could eat the whole pie all by myself. Hahaha!

That's how good this apple pie is. Very rustic. Very provencal - yet the irony being All-American. Home-made. Very good.

*Recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking, From my home to yours

Your base - Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough for a double crust, chilled:

Ingredients for your base - 9-inch double crust:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces

1/3 cup very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces

About 1/2 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Don't overdo the mixing - what you're aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 6 tablespoons of the water if making a double crust - add a little water and pulse once, and some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. The use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface. Divide the dough in half. Gather each half into a ball, flatten each ball into a disk and wrap each half in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling. (if your ingredients were very  cold and you worked quickly, though, you might be able to roll the dough immediately: the dough should be as cold as if it had just come out of the fridge).

To roll out the dough: Have a buttered 9-inch pie plate at hand.

You can roll the dough out on a floured surface or between sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap or in an rolling wrap cover. If you're working on a counter, turn the dough over frequently and keep the counter floured. If you are rolling between paper, plastic or in a slipcover, make sure to turn the dough over often and to lift the paper, plastic or cover frequently so that it doesn't roll into the dough and form creases. If you've got time, slide the rolled-out dough into the fridge for about 20 minutes to rest and firm up.

For A double-crusted pie: Fit one circle of dough into the pie plate, allowing the excess to hang over. Trim to a 1/8 to 1/4-inch overhang. Fill the pie and moisten the edges of the bottom crust with water. Center the second piece of dough over the filling and press it against the bottom crust. Using a pair of scissors, cut the top crust's overhang so that it extends about 1/4 inch over the bottom crust. Tuck the excess top crust under the bottom crust and flute or pinch the crust to make a decorative edge. Alternatively, you can seal the doubled-up crust by pressing it with the tines of a fork. Follow the pie recipe's instruction for baking.

Ingredients:

6 very large apples

3/4 cup sugar

grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs (or dry bread crumbs)

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

For the glaze (optional)

Milk or heavy cream

Decorating (coarse) or granulated sugar

Getting Ready: Butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.On a well-floured surface (or between wax paper, or plastic wrap), roll out one piece of the dough to a thickness of about ⅛ inch. Fit the dough into the buttered pie plate and trim the edges to a ½ -inch overhang. Roll the other piece of dough into a ⅛-inch-thick and slip it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Cover both the circle and the crust in the pie plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes, while you preheat the oven and prepare the filling. (The crusts can be well covered and kept refrigerated overnight.)

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel, core and slice the apples into slices about ¼ inch thick. Put the apples into a large bowl and add the sugar, lemon zest, tapioca (or potato flour), cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Toss everything together really well. Let the mix sit for about 5 minutes, until juice starts to accumulate in the bottom of the bowl.

Remove the pie plate and top crust from the refrigerator and put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the crust and then turn the apples and their juices into the crust. The apples will heap over the top of the crust. Pat them into an even mound. Dot the apples with the bits of cold butter.

Very lightly moisten the rim of the bottom crust with water, then center the top crust over the apples. Either folds the overhang from the top crust under the bottom crust and crimps the crust attractively, or presses the top crust against the bottom crust and trim the overhang from both crusts even with the rim of the pie plate. If you’ve pressed and trimmed the crust, use the tines of a fork to press the two crusts together securely.

Use a sharp paring knife to cut about 6 slits in the top crust. Use the wide end of a piping tip to cut a circle out of the center of the crust as a steam vent. If you’d like, brush the top crust with a little milk or cream and sprinkle it with sugar.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake the pie for another 50 to 60 minutes (total baking time is between 65 and 75 minutes), or until the crust is gorgeously browned and the juices bubble up through the top crust. After about 40 minutes in the oven, if the top crust looks as if it’s browning too quickly, cover the pie loosely with a foil tent.

Transfer the pie to a rack and let it rest until it is only just warm or until it reaches room temperature.