Flaky Apple Pie
Serves 8
20 mins prep
90 mins cook
30 mins Chill time
140 mins total
This recipe has everything you need to know to make a perfectly flaky all-butter apple pie with a crispy bottom. No pre-baking and no pre-cooking the filling needed! This recipe makes one 9 inch double crust pie. Follow along with the easy step by step photos.
Pie Crust
Pie Filling
Brushing over
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Pie Crust
Combine the flour and salt in the food processor and pulse to incorporate
Add the cubed cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles very coarse bread crumbs with pea sized pieces of butter. This takes about 5-8 pulses. Pour contents out into a large bowl.
Mix together the ice water and apple cider vinegar in a separate bowl.
Add the water mixture tablespoon by tablespoon into the crumb mixture, stirring with a large wooden spoon or spatula after each addition. Once the dough just starts to come together, stop adding the liquid. You should not need to use all of the liquid.
Fold the dough: In the same bowl, gather the dough into a ball, working quickly so that the butter doesn't melt. Flatten out the ball into a disk with your hands and fold that disk in half. Repeat this flattening and folding another 2 times.
Shape the dough back into a disk and cut in half. Shape each half back into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Making the Pie Filling
Prepare the apples: Peel, core, and slice the apples. I like to cut into thicker slices (~0.5cm thick) for a chunkier filling. Place the slices into a large non-metal bowl.
Add the sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice and stir the mixture well so that all apple slices are covered in the sugar and cinnamon.
Let the filling rest on the counter for 30 minutes so that the apples weep out any excess moisture.
Add the starch: After 30 minutes, add the arrowroot starch (or starch of choice) to the filling and mix well.
Assembly
Grease a clear glass 9" pie dish (or whatever pie dish you have) by spraying with cooking spray or by rubbing a stick of cold butter all over the inside.
Roll out the bottom crust: On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the dough disks to be about 2 inches larger than the pie dish all the way around. Measure by flipping the pie dish over your rolled dough and looking to see that there is about 2 inches of excess dough all the way around.
Position the bottom crust: Placing the rolling pin on top of one of the edges of the rolled dough, gently roll the dough onto the rolling pin and over onto the greased pie dish. Gently help the dough fall into the pie dish without stretching the dough.
Trim any edges with a knife or scissors, leaving a ½ inch border around the edge of the pie crust. Fold excess dough underneath itself so that the crust has a thicker edge. Crimp the dough into a wavy crust by using your fingers.
Fill the pie by spooning the pie filling into the pie crust, leaving the excess liquid from the apples out of the pie. You want a good mound of apple slices on top because the filling will compress as it bakes. Optionally, arrange the red fleshed apple slices on top of the pie filling, so that the slices are overlapping each other.
Top crust: Roll out the other half of the dough on a lightly floured surface to about ½ cm thick. Decorate the pie with a lattice or any other way you like, making sure there are holes in the top crust to allow steam to escape. I decorated it as a wreath - read through the instructions in the post to learn how.
Finishing touches: Using a pastry brush, gently brush over the top of the pie with heavy cream.
Chill: Place the pie in a freezer for 10 minutes before baking to let the pie dough chill one last time. Place a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F).
Bake: Place the pie dish onto a dark coloured cookie sheet and bake in the bottom third of the oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes. After 30 minutes of baking, tent the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil to prevent them from burning. Check the pie after 1 hour of baking. The top of the pie and the bottom crust should be golden brown. The pie filling should be soft and bubbling.
Remove from oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing to serve. Enjoy!
