Pete's Food Blog

11. Sep, 2021

Pete's "ultimate Apple pie"

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

280g plain white flour

1 tsp salt

175g cold butter/margarine or vegan substitute - cut into 1 cm cubes

5 tbl cold water

For the filling:

2 tbl flour

900g of sharp apples cores removed and cut into wedges

100g sugar

1½ tsp cinnamon

1 whole nutmeg freshly grated (1½ tsp of ready ground)

5 tbl Orange marmalade

30g cold butter (or vegan substitute), cut into 10 cubes

20 ml of milk or milk substitute

(Optional - one egg)

Method:

In a bowl, coat the apple wedges with the spices and sugar. Set aside.

Blitz the flour, salt and fat to form a crumb. With the food processor blades still turning, add the water 15 ml at a time until the dough forms into a ball. Place in the fridge for at least an hour in a plastic bag (overnight's good too).

Pre-heat the oven to 230°C

Divide the pastry dough into two parts, one slightly bigger than the other - the larger one for the base of your 28cm pie dish, the smaller for the top of the pie.

Roll out the base - large enough to come up and slightly over the edges of the pie dish. Grease the pie dish with oil and sprinkle with flour or preferably semolina.

Transfer the pastry base to the pie dish and cut off the excess around the upper rim  (Conserve the off-cuts). Sprinkle the 2 tbl spoons of flour over the base.

Pour the spiced apples into the pie dish and spread them out evenly over the pastry base. Using a teaspoon, daub the apples with blobs of marmalade and the 30g cubes of butter/margarine/butter substitute.

Roll out the second piece of pastry dough and cover the pie, again cutting off any excess.

Ball together the pastry off-cuts, roll them to about 4 mm thick and cut out shapes to decorate your pie topping (An apple, apple tree whatever takes your fancy!). Dip them in milk (or milk substitute) and arrange on the pastry topping.

Bake for 15 mins.

Then reduce the temperature to 190°C for 25 mins.

Take the pie out of the oven, brush the top with a beaten egg (or milk substitute) and sprinkle with sugar. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Serve cold