Apple pie with cloves, like my grandma used to make.
- Servings: 4-6
- Calories per serving: ???
- Two small-medium mixing bowls
- A large mixing bowl
- Something to measure water
- A pie tray
- Baking tray
- A rubber spatula
- Clingfilm
- Rolling pin
- Pastry brush
- 350g plain flour
- 2tbsp caster sugar (substitute: regular sugar)
- 1tsp salt
- 230g of cold butter
- 230ml of ice cold water
- And ice cubes to cool the water
- 1.1kg of Granny Smiths' apples
- 150g of sugar
- 1/2tsp of cinnamon
- 1/2tsp of ground nutmeg
- 1tsp ground cloves
- 2tbsp plain flour
- Egg
- Cold water
- Measure out the water, leave it with ice cubes in the fridge until cold.
- Clean your work surface (we will use it for rolling dough)
- Measure out the flour
- Measure out the cold butter
- Mix the sugar, salt and flour together in a mixing bowl
- Mix the cold butter in
- Cut the butter up into pieces and use your hands to mix it in
- Or use a stand mixer if you have one
- When thoroughly mixed it should resemble damp sand
- Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture and gently mix in with a rubber spatula
- When finished a dough will have formed. You may not need all the water.
- Use only the smallest bit of water until it forms a dough. I always make it way too hydrated.
- If it's too hydrated add flour
- Remove dough from mixing bowl, place onto work surface, pad it int a disk/cylinder shape and liberally dust with flour.
- Wrap it in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 2 hours
- Meanwhile, you can prepare the filling...
- Peel all the apples
- Chop all the applies into ~1.3cm-thick slices
- Firstly cut the 4 sides off and discard the core, then cut each side into slices
- If they're too small they will turn mushy
- Add all apple slices to a large mixing bowl
- Add all the sugar
- Add the cinnamon, ground nutmeg and ground cloves
- Add 2tbsp flour
- Mix well with spatula
- If you won't be moving onto "make the pie" for a while yet, cover the filling with clingfilm and place in the fridge. If you leave it on the side it will sweat.
- Place a baking tray in the oven and begin heating it to 260 degrees (or if your oven doesn't go that high, turn it to as high as it'll go).
- Once your dough has been in the fridge for at least 2 hours...
- Dust the worksurace with flour, unwrap your dough and place on the worksurface, dust the top of it with flour too
- Knead it a bit by beating it with a rolling pin
- Split the doguh into two pieces
- With the first piece...
- Spread flour on your rolling pin
- Roll out until it is very thin, around 30mm thick (See: https://youtu.be/-Vy12e0LjX4?t=149). It should be significantly longer than your pie tray.
- Roll the dough around the rolling pin, then drape it over the pie tray unrolling from the pin across it. The dough should drape over either side.
- Push it down in the corners of the tray to ensure that it's fully, evenly spread out
- Add the filling into the tray, gently pad it flat
- With the other piece of dough...
- Flour both the worksurface and the rolling pin again
- Roll the dough piece out flat, a similar thickness to the last piece
- Lay this dough over the top of the pie tray
- Or cut them into stripes to form a lattice
- Cut any extra that drapes over too far
- Crimp around the edges with your fingers (See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJRY1vdCMkQ)
- Make several small holes in the top crust, gently, with a knife
- Optionally: Beat an egg with 1tbsp cold water and spread it over the top with a pastry brush
- Any excess dough can be used to make decorative shapes to add to the top
- If using egg wash, wash the added shapes too.
- Remove the pre-heated baking tray from the oven, place the pie tray on it, return baking tray to the oven
- Reduce oven's temperature to 200C
- Cook for 30-40 minutes.
- Try adding ginger? The Babish recipe recommends it
- Try adding cornmeal? The BBC recipe recommends it
- Up the dough ingredients by about 20-25% and instead of splitting it in half put more of it into the base than the top.
- Last time the base was very thin and difficult to work with, and the top had extra.