Apple Pie

Most people enjoy a nice apple pie.  I certainly do so I decided, as I hadn’t had one for a while, that I would make one.  Often in apple pies spices are added, and even raisins but for mine I wanted a purely apple flavour so decided to omit any spices.

Of course it would be a simple thing to add some cinnamon and nutmeg, for those who prefer to have that flavouring in their pies.

For my pie I used a combination of Royal Gala and Braeburn apples as they are paricular favourites.  Often, in the UK, Bramley apples are used, as they are a tart cooking apple, but I didn’t have those.

I kept my recipe very simple, except that in an effort to keep the base of the pastry from being soggy I brushed some golden syrup over it, to create a barrier and then sprinkled some oats on the top of that, so that any juices released during baking could be absorbed to some extent, allowing the pastry to cook through.

For those who wish to spice the pie with cinnamon and nutmeg I have included that in the recipe as well.

My pie turned out very well and tasted so good.  Not overly sweet and so succulent, with a nice buttery pastry.

Ingredients:
for the pastry:

• 350g(2 1/3 cups) plain flour
• 175g(12 1/2 tbsp) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 90ml(6 tbsp) cold water

For the filling and the top

• 1kg(2.2 lbs) apples of choice
• 100g(1/2 cup) caster sugar, or granulated
• juice from one lemon
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 2 tbsp oats
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar(or granulated)
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg(optional)

Method:

1. In a food processor(you can do this by hand, rubbing between your fingers) place the flour and butter and pulse together until the butter is broken down into the flour, leaving a texture like breadcrumbs or wet sand.
2. Add the water, a little at a time, pulsing the mixture, until the dough begins to clump together.  You may not need all of the water.
3. Tip the dough out, onto a work surface or into a bowl and pull together into a ball.
4. Place the dough onto some plastic wrap and flatten into a disc, then wrap it up and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. Place a baking tray on the oven rack and reheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/430F.
6. Grease a 9 inch/23cm pie dish.
7. Peel, core and slice the apples and place into a large bowl, and toss them in the lemon juice to prevent browning.
8. Take half of the dough and roll it out on a floured work surface to a diameter of about 14 inches/34 cm.
9. Carefully roll the pastry up onto the rolling pin, or fold in half and then half again, and place into the pie dish gently pressing down to line the base and sides.
10. Warm the syrup a little and brush over the pastry base.
11. Sprinkle the oats onto the syrup.
12. Put the sugar into the bowl with the apples and toss around to mix in.
13. Sprinkle the cornflour, and the ground spices if you are using them, over the top and toss again.
14. Put the apples into the pastry base, forming a slight dome in the centre.
15. Set the filled pie dish to one side and roll out the remaining pastry to a diameter of about 12 inches/30cm.
16. Brush some milk around the edge of the pastry in the pie dish and place the rolled out pastry on the top and gently press down around the rim to seal the top to the base.
17. Trim off the excess pastry and then crimp the edge as you like( I simply used a fork pressed all around the edge).
18. Brush the top of the pie with some milk and sprinkle the demerara sugar over it. 
19. Poke some slits into the pastry top, to allow steam to escape during baking. 
20. Place the pie into the oven, on the heated baking tray, and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180C/160C Fan/350 F and bake for a further 35 minutes.
21. If the top seems to be browning too quickly lightly cover with aluminium foil for the last 10 minutes or so.
22. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before cutting into the pie and serving.