Apple pie
Copyright Charlotte Pike
Ingredients
For the pastry
300g/2 ½ cups plain flour
150g/2/3 cup butter, cubed and chilled
4 tsp caster sugar
2 egg yolks
8 tsp ice cold water
For the apple filing
650g eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices
70g/generous 1/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp water
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp caster sugar for sprinkling
Method
Place the apple slices into a saucepan with the sugar, cinnamon and water and cook for 10 minutes. The apples should have softened a little during this time.Set aside to cool.
If you are making pastry, start with this first. If not, skip to the asterisks ***
Place the flour and butter into a bowl. Rub together lightly using your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
Add the sugar and egg yolk and stir into the butter and flour
Finally, add the cold water, a little at a time. Take a table knife and use this to stir the mixture to mix the water in.
Once the water has been added, bring the pastry together to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and chilli in the fridge for 20 minutes
Whilst the pastry is chilling, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Grease a 24cm pie dish, or a 20cm/ 8” round spring form tin well and set aside
When the pastry is chilled, take two large sheets of clingfilm, place half the ball of pastry between the two sheets and roll out to be thin enough to fit the tin – ¼-½ cm thickness is generally about right.
***Fit the pastry to the tin and press into the edges and round the sides. If you are using the springform tin, build the pastry up to 5 cm up the sides of the tin and cut around the edges neatly. If you have any thin patches, just press any excess pastry over them to cover them up. If you are using the pie dish, leave 1-2cm excess pastry around the rim.
Fill the pastry case with the apple mixture.
Roll out the second half of the pastry as you did the first half. Place the pastry on top of the pie and cut around the edge of the dish using a knife.
Dampen down the edges of both pieces of pastry with water. To do this, take a little cold water in a glass. Dip your finger in the water and then dab it onto the edges of the pastry to moisten. Then, take a fork, and press down around the rim of the pie to seal the pastry.
Brush the pie with the beaten egg to glaze, and sprinkle with the caster sugar. Make a couple of cuts in the centre of the pie using a sharp knife
Bake the pie for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
Serve with cream, custard or ice cream
