Tried and True Best Apple Pie
What’s Thanksgiving without Apple Pie
My search for the perfect apple pie began with Cooks Illustrated when we lived in Hong Kong and the pie turned out fine, but not great. The crust always hollowed out and apples not well cooked and a bit watery. After settling in Connecticut with apples being the town fruit, I gradually archived perfection: apple pie stuffing from Epicurious’ Rum Raisin Apple Pie and pie crust from Serious Eats’ Easy Pie Dough.
My own contributions: 1) Fresh cranberries add a festive color and tartness to balance the sweetness of apples and raisins (soaked in rum). 2) Lard rendered from leaf lard also adds incredible flakiness and scrumptiousness to the crusts. 3) I circled back to Cooks Illustrated for their golden proportions and pro tips on pie dough by adding Vodka instead of water dough.
Pie Dough (double crust):
Ingredients:
20 tbsp of cold fats, 12 tbsp butter and 8 tbsp lard, ratio of 3:2. Note: Lard was rendered from leaf lard which can be hard to find. Ours came from a farm in eastern Connecticut. I am hesitant to use other forms of lard. If lard is not available, use all butter.
12 ounces flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp table salt
6 tbsp Vodka
Instructions:
Add flour, sugar and salt in food processor, pulse to combine
Divide flour mixture into 2/3 and 1/3 portions
Pulse cold fats with 2/3 flour mixture for 20-25 short pulses, until flour-fat mixture starts to form clumps
Scrape and move dough pieces to distribute evenly around blade
Add remaining 1/3 flour mixture to food processor and continue to pulse for 5-10 pulses until dough falls apart land becomes sandy, loose pieces again
Empty loose dough pieces into large prep bowl and sprinkle Vodka (one at a time) to form dough
Roll dough on lightly floured surface and divide dough into two balls (one slightly larger), wrap in saran-wrap, flatten into round disks and refrigerate (up to three days) until ready to bake
Apple Pie Stuffing:
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 medium apples, ranging from sweet to tart (2 1/2 lb without skin and core)
2/3 cup fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 teaspoons milk
1 tablespoon sanding sugar
Instructions (refer to Epicurious recipe for more details):
Soak raisins in rum (you can boil and let sit and cool or soak overnight)
Peel and core apples, cut into small wedges
Coat apple pieces with sugar, flour, lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, cranberries, then mix in rum raisins and fresh cranberries
Roll out larger dough to about 13 inches, large enough to cover rim of pie plate (BTW: I use a large glass pie plate and have been liberal with adding more apples)
Pile in apple stuffing into pie plate, add bits of butter on top
Roll out smaller dough to cover pie stuffing, flute edges with fork, cut 3 small slits on top crust, and brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar
Set pie on baking sheet and bake at 425F for 20 minutes, then reduce to 375F for another 45-50 minutes until golden and bubbly
Post-script: Kenji Lopez-Alt is the creator of the pie dough recipe. In his earlier Serious Eats blog, he lamented not being able to use Vodka in his recipe due to IP restrictions. Apparently he discovered the vodka secret (not forming gluten when added to pie dough) while working at Cooks Illustrated but the latter probably put the squeeze on him after his departure. I just noticed in the most recent Cooks Illustrated’s Facebook posting by Kenji “Foolproof Pie Dough for Double-Crust Pie” which calls for adding 1/4 cup vodka and 1/4 water to the dough. Seemed like they made up and found a compromise. I will try half-half variation next year.
