Good Oldfashioned Apple Pie

Apple pie. Is there more autumn saying pie than this one? One that holds more memories of our Grandma’s? So flaky, so delicious, sweet with scents, tastes and textures, perfect family Autumn dessert!

Autumn is coming! No wonder, you’ll say, it’s the way of the world, seasons have been changing for some time now, so what’s new? Well, nothing, I guess, the same old same old Summer leaving, Autumn coming, blah blah, but one can be happy about an Apple Pie, right? Yes, it’s here just about every autumn, when lusciously bright and juicy apples begin coming to our lives and baskets, but it’s been awhile since I baked an Apple Pie, so excuse my delight! And please, do enter this Pie baking season with me! 

This Summer has been, more often than not, a sweet one, rather than a savoury one. I have been baking whole Summer long, without being afraid of turning an oven on. No way! 

So there they were: Summer Fruit Crumble Bars,  Vegan Chocolate Plum Pie, Vegan Black Grape Galette, Grannie’s Cherry Strudel… one more delicious than the other! And all baked. And believe me, we weren’t sorry for making a few extra Celsius at all. Oh, no. This Summer has been so delicious, so fruity and caramelizing and oozingly sweet and juicy delicious that I cannot but proceed as equally in the Autumn, right? 

The author of this beautiful pie’s crust is Linda Lomelino, great baker and photographer, whose work I truly admire and look up to. I found it at her’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Elderflower recipe. It’s hands down, way long, the best, the flakiest, the crispiest, the I don’t know more words to say the best pie crust I have ever baked and eaten. I mean, I ate a few pies in my life and baked a few more, but this one beats them all. 

Another secret, or rather say, there’s no secret, but it’s all about following Linda’s method. To not knead the dough, to not melt the butter by kneading the dough or leaving it out of the fridge and fiddling with it for too long. To work swiftly and carefree. Because it’s not all that complicated at all, just common sense, I guess, because little bits and pieces of butter, chilled and then baked make the flakiest pie crust ever. 

So instead of an Apple Pie, you can easily adjust this recipe to any other fruit filling. 

Thank you, dear Linda, for this great pie crust recipe! And of course, for being an inspiration to us all with your beautiful photos!

Good Oldfashioned Apple Pie

Pie crust:
from Linda Lomelino’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Elderflower

300 g / 2 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
nice pinch of salt
250g / 1 cup cold vegan butter/margarine, cubed
6 – 8 tbsp cold water

Blender method: put everything in the food processor (except water) and whizz just a few times until butter incorporates nicely into the flour, but with few small pea-sized pieces left. Then gradually add water, pulse once or twice more and when it kind of comes together, take it out, make two balls, pat/roll them in the disc shape, cover in foil and put in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Just do not knead the dough, or it won’t be as flaky. 
Plain bowl method: put everything in the bow except water. Quickly work the butter into the flour with your fingertips until there are few bits and pieces of it left. Gradually add water and when it comes together in a bowl, just stop, do not knead! Then proceed as explained above. 

The Filling: 
ca 1 kg / 2 pounds of apples
2 – 3 tbsp sugar or other sweeteners, depending on how sweet the apples are
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 sachet vanilla pudding powder (40g, 2 tbsp) or as much of the cornstarch or tapioca flour

Peel/deseed the apples, cut into cubes or slices. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Add the pudding, toss vigorously. Apple juice will absorb it all but watch that there are no lumps. Apples will surely let some of their juices but do not remove it, the pudding powder will thicken it and make a beautiful, creamy consistency. 

Apple Pie assembly and baking 
Take one piece of the dough out of the refrigerator. On a lightly floured sheet of baking paper, roll the dough to fit into the 28 cm/ 8-9 inch pie pan. Put it in the fridge while making the lattice crust. Take the other piece of the dough and roll it out and cut 10 – 12 strips out. Take the pie form, transfer the filling in the form, level it a bit. Working swiftly so the butter in the dough doesn’t melt, make a grid on the top of the pie. If you think that braiding a grid on a pie is too fiddly/complicated for you, just cut out other shapes and put them on top, it’ll be as equally delicious! Sprinkle the top of the pie with a tbsp or two of brown sugar. 
Bake the pie for a good 50 mins on 180°C or until it’s all nice, caramelized and oozy 🙂 And then sit back and enjoy the beautiful scents that will come out of the oven! Serve pie cooled. 

*** PIN FOR LATER ***