on Oct 17th, 2007Lattice apple pie
Have you ever made a double-crust apple pie, only to cut into it and discover a gaping space between the top crust and the apples? I have and frankly, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t. But it doesn’t have to happen.
One solution is to use more butter in the crust so the pastry really sinks down as it bakes. My mother, G-d love and keep her, had such tidy apple pies, partly because of the crust she made when I was a girl. She used a stick of butter — four ounces — and a big chunk of cream cheese. She also wisely cooked the filling. (And just in case there was an unclogged artery within ten miles, she added another stick of butter to the pan.)
Well that was then. This is now.
A beautiful lattice solves the problem no matter how skimpy the filling might be. In fact, I deliberately used only half the apples here to demonstrate that point. And while the filling is based on my mother’s recipe, that stick of butter is long gone. I don’t even miss it.
This is an unusual apple pie, as you’ll see from the ingredients. It’s also unusual in that the filling, cooked for a short time to enable the apples to shrink before they go into the pie, actually expands in the oven. If you saw the first photo at my how-to for making a woven lattice crust, you saw how rounded the pie is. This is that same pie. Here’s a before and after:
I wish I could explain why this happens but I don’t have a clue. It might have something to do with the porosity of the apples — I used two Pink Ladies and one Golden Delicious, but I freely mix from other varieties too — or it might be related to cooking them covered most of the time or baking them with liquid. I honestly don’t know. Happily, the dough can rise as well as sink.
A quick note about apples: The only times I use just one variety in a pie are the few weeks when Northern Spies are available. All other times I use a 2 - to - 1 mix of crisp/tart and not so crisp but a little sweeter. When the pickings are slim, four Granny Smith and two Macintosh always work. If a recipe calls for sliced apples by the cup with no other hint of how many are needed, allow one large apple per cup.
Ella’s Apple Pie
Double crust for a nine-inch pie, preferably pate sucree
6 baking apples (5 pounds) peeled, cored and sliced 1/4″ thick
3/4 cup / 5.25 oz. / 150g sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 TB all-purpose flour (not self-rising)
1/3 cup / 3 oz. orange juice
2 TB honey
Line a pie shell with one of the crusts and refrigerate.
Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Add sliced apples, toss well to coat.
Preheat a 12″ skillet or saute pan or a dutch oven over medium heat. Add apple mixture, orange juice and honey. Stir well to blend.
Bring to a strong simmer, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove cover, stir and simmer another 5 minutes or until apples can be easily pierced with a fork.
Remove from heat, let cool completely.
When cool, set racks in the middle of the oven and in the slot right below it. Preheat to 350 degrees F /180 C / Gas Mark 4.
Transfer apples and several TB of the pan liquid to the pie plate*, mounding in the center, and return to fridge.
Roll out the top crust and cut into lattice strips. Weave on the pie itself and finish the edges. If desired, brush on an egg wash, avoiding the edges, made of one egg yolk, one teaspoon of water and a pinch of salt.
Bake on the lower rack for 45 minutes until nicely browned and bubbly. Check it after 25 minutes. If the crust is not browning sufficiently, move to the center rack for the remaining 20 minutes.
Let cool completely on a rack, about 6 hours.
Alternate crumb topping
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or more to taste
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ dice
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl or mini chop. Rub in butter with fingers or by pulsing until mixture clumps together. Sprinkle on pie.
*The liquid remaining in the pan can be boiled and reduced to a syrup to use on top of ice cream or as an ingredient in homemade ice cream.
Ella’s Notes: A lattice top can be woven in advance and refrigerated until needed. Just put parchment paper on a cookie sheet or the back of a baking sheet, flour it lightly, make the lattice and chill. Let it sit out for several minutes before attempting to slide it onto the top of a pie.
Copyright © 2007 From Scratch All Rights Reserved
Related: How to: Make a Lattice Crust
The pie sounds wonderful!
You take such great food pictures. I am hungry just looking at the apple pie.
Thanks! It is a tasty pie. Baked goods seem to photograph themselves; it’s the other foods I have trouble with. Sigh…