Cyan's extra spicy apple pie recipe (work in progress)
Here's a complete walkthrough of a pie I make for Thanksgiving, from start to finish. Pretty work intensive, but I think it's worth it.
Makes a 9-10 inch diameter, approximately inch and a half deep pie. How many servings depends on the number of guests you have and their respective appetites. I once polished this off with two friends in an hour.
Time: Pretty damn long. About 2 and a bit hours prep time, 8 hours to let the pie sit and cool, and a bajillion in terms of clean-up.
Pastry:
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup cold lard
1 cup cold unsalted butter
1 tsp vinegar (I prefer white wine vinegar)
1 tsp table salt
2 tsp granulated brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg white (reserve yolk for glaze)
ice water
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Sift together dry ingredients (For an extra-rustic feel, you can make up to 2 cups of the flour whole-wheat, but not more if you want flaky pie crust)
3. Fold vinegar and egg white.
4. Using a grater, grate the lard and butter into the mixture.
5. Mix until the dough looks like coarse oatmeal.
6. Pour ice water in. Be conservative with the amount. You only want juuuust enough water to work with the dough.
*** Note: don't overwork the dough. You might see chunks of shortening or butter while you're working with it. THAT'S FINE. It's what gives pie it's crumbly/flaky texture.
7. Flatten and work into a 9-10" pie plate.
8. Refrigerate leftover dough AND plated dough while working on the filling.
Filling:
7-8 sour apples
3 tbsp cinnamon
1.5 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp nutmeg
0.5 tsp black pepper
6 grains of allspice
5 cloves
optional 0.5 tbsp of paprika
optional chili pepper to taste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 lemon
1. Core and slice apples. (I prefer to keep the skins on, but that's up to you. Also, my preference, for this pie is Macintosh apples. They carry the spices really well. I only use Granny Smith apples for my more traditional apple pie which only uses a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg.)
2. Rub lemon over slices. This keeps the apples from browning too quickly.
3. Mix spices, flour and sugar together.
4. Toss spice mixture into apples.
- Bake the lower pie crust for about 15-20 minutes. It should be just solid, but still a bit delicate when you bring it out.
- Put apples into lower pie crust.
- Make an upper pie crust. Don't worry if there are holes in your crust, the large majority of them should fill up as the pie bakes.
- Bake again until the top of the pie is somewhat solid.
Glaze:
leftover egg yolk
2 tbsp sugar
1. Whisk until smooth.
2. Brush onto pie crust
- Bake again till the sugar is slightly, just slightly burnt. (Not blackened!)
Let pie sit overnight.
Eat with aged melted cheddar as a topping (the sharper, the better!), and vanilla ice cream on the side.
Makes a 9-10 inch diameter, approximately inch and a half deep pie. How many servings depends on the number of guests you have and their respective appetites. I once polished this off with two friends in an hour.
Time: Pretty damn long. About 2 and a bit hours prep time, 8 hours to let the pie sit and cool, and a bajillion in terms of clean-up.
Pastry:
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup cold lard
1 cup cold unsalted butter
1 tsp vinegar (I prefer white wine vinegar)
1 tsp table salt
2 tsp granulated brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg white (reserve yolk for glaze)
ice water
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Sift together dry ingredients (For an extra-rustic feel, you can make up to 2 cups of the flour whole-wheat, but not more if you want flaky pie crust)
3. Fold vinegar and egg white.
4. Using a grater, grate the lard and butter into the mixture.
5. Mix until the dough looks like coarse oatmeal.
6. Pour ice water in. Be conservative with the amount. You only want juuuust enough water to work with the dough.
*** Note: don't overwork the dough. You might see chunks of shortening or butter while you're working with it. THAT'S FINE. It's what gives pie it's crumbly/flaky texture.
7. Flatten and work into a 9-10" pie plate.
8. Refrigerate leftover dough AND plated dough while working on the filling.
Filling:
7-8 sour apples
3 tbsp cinnamon
1.5 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp nutmeg
0.5 tsp black pepper
6 grains of allspice
5 cloves
optional 0.5 tbsp of paprika
optional chili pepper to taste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 lemon
1. Core and slice apples. (I prefer to keep the skins on, but that's up to you. Also, my preference, for this pie is Macintosh apples. They carry the spices really well. I only use Granny Smith apples for my more traditional apple pie which only uses a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg.)
2. Rub lemon over slices. This keeps the apples from browning too quickly.
3. Mix spices, flour and sugar together.
4. Toss spice mixture into apples.
- Bake the lower pie crust for about 15-20 minutes. It should be just solid, but still a bit delicate when you bring it out.
- Put apples into lower pie crust.
- Make an upper pie crust. Don't worry if there are holes in your crust, the large majority of them should fill up as the pie bakes.
- Bake again until the top of the pie is somewhat solid.
Glaze:
leftover egg yolk
2 tbsp sugar
1. Whisk until smooth.
2. Brush onto pie crust
- Bake again till the sugar is slightly, just slightly burnt. (Not blackened!)
Let pie sit overnight.
Eat with aged melted cheddar as a topping (the sharper, the better!), and vanilla ice cream on the side.