How To Properly...
Make an Apple Pie
Making an apple pie is not too difficult, but you must have the right kind of apple, depending upon whether you want the apples to cook mushy or hold their shape. Several different kinds of apples are good for pie, including harvest, wealthy, McIntosh, and granny smith, to name a few. Tart, crisp apples make the best pies. Delicious apples are not very good for pie. Usually if an apple is good for applesauce, it is good for apple pie.
The first step in making any pie is the crust. Years ago, lard was used as the shortening ingredient. But now we are more health conscious and we use shortening, such as Crisco. You will need 2/3 cup shortening, 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 6 to 7 tablespoons of cold water. Mix the flour and salt and cut the shortening into the flour with a fork until it resembles fine crumbs. Then pour three tablespoons of the water over the flour and mix well. Pour three more tablespoons of the water over the mixture and mix until the mixture starts to stick together like a ball. You might need the other tablespoon of water or just part of it. Take half the dough and make it into a ball and roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured counter top until it is thin and a large enough circle to fit the bottom of your pie pan. Try not to handle the dough anymore than necessary. Over handling makes the crust tough. Put the crust into your pie pan and shape it to the pan. Cut off any excess crust around the top of the pan with a knife. Roll out the other half of the dough for the top crust.
Next you must peel and slice the apples. Usually you need between six and eight apples depending upon their size. You will want enough apple slices to fill your pie pan so that they mound over the top as the apples will cook down during baking. After you have your apples sliced, in a small bowl mix one cup of granulated sugar, one heaping teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and two tablespoons of flour together and pour over the apples and mix well. Put this apple mixture into your pie pan and dot the apples with small pats of butter all around (about two tablespoons altogether).
Now you are ready to put the top crust on the pie. Carefully lay the crust on the apples and cover completely, sealing the top crust and the bottom crust. Use your thumb and forefinger to flute the crusts, or use a fork. If you want a nice brown crisp top crust, take a small amount of cream, or half and half, and brush it onto the crust and then sprinkle sugar over it.
Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. Place the pie on the middle rack and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees, and back an additional 45 minutes. Since the apples will get juicy while cooking, they might cook over, so it is a good idea to put a cookie sheet on the rack beneath the pie to catch the juice if you don’t want a mess in your oven.
ENJOY!!
