Woo hoo, its pie day
I think I’ll make two, one for me and one for the freezer. I’m so excited, though a tad bit apprehensive. You remember me telling you about the temperament of my pies. Here’s hoping the first pie won’t ask me to bake the other one, not today anyway.
Anywho, I start out by making the crust. I use a simple but wonderful recipe that I got from allrecipes.com. Be forewarned, the recipe has been tweaked.
French Pastry Pie Crust
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup butter flavored shortening
1 egg
some water
I mix it in the food processor. Putting everything in but the water, no particular order. Um, as for the water, I only add as much as I need, so it varies. I add just enough for the dough to come together.
When it does, it will start to bump around in the food processor. Then I remove it, gather it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it until needed.
Next step is the filling. Another little “tweaked” something from allrecipes.com.
Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup water
I melt the butter, add the flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stirring, stirring, stirring. Next, I add the sugars. And that’s it for the filling.
As for the apples, I usually buy three bags of apples at a time. Then when I get home, I peel, slice and freeze them single layer on a cookie sheet, then transfer them to a big Ziploc bag and put them back in the freezer. So, they’re all ready. I use about 3 to 4 cups.
A little note: I freeze the apples single layer because once I froze them all together and had a giant ball of apple slices. It took me a long time to chip away bits of apples to use in a pie. And so, after that pleasant little experience, I decided to freeze the apples single layer. It’s a lot easier to get the amount I need now.
Once everything is ready, its time to build the pies.
I’ll just tell you how I do one.
I divide the dough in half. Roll out one half, spray the pan with pam and fit the dough into the pie pan. Then I add the apples and pour the filling on top, remembering to reserve about 1/4 cup for later.
I roll out the other bit of dough and lay it on top. I crimp the edges together to seal the pie, and add the vents. Then I use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with the reserved filling.
Here’s where the two pies parted ways. One got wrapped and went in the freezer, the other went into my oven, which had been preheated to 350 degrees.
Then I baked the pie until bubbly, which took about 30-40 minutes, and allowed it to cool for 20 minutes before slicing.
Ahhh, yes! Fantastic!
It really is a terrific pie.
Absolutely delicious!
I hope you like it too.
ps Sunday is a day of rest around here, so I’ll see you Monday
