All you need to know to make the most delicious homemade apple pie
Here it is: THE classic, THE most-loved and always welcomed at any table, any day of the year: The APPLE PIE!
With this classic recipe you will get a fruity and juicy, buttery and cinnamon-y apple pie. Every bite of this dessert will burst in your mouth with the classic holiday flavor of apples and cinnamon, sandwiched in a buttery and flaky, homemade pie crust.
There's nothing quite like it!
Here are all my tips and recommendations to make the best apple pie you could imagine.
First of all: I strongly recommend making the pie crust from scratch (please don't go with store-bought crust!).
Your pie can only be as good as the crust you're using. So if you have the time, please please pleaaaaase, make the pie dough from scratch.
Note: this dough can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator!
Making pie crust is really not time-consuming, especially if you have and use a food processor.
If you haven't made this pie dough before, it might just take a bit of practice.
Mostly, the biggest issue is to find the right amount of water to make the dough come together, without being too dry and without mixing too much.
So, here iswhat you need to make the best pie crust:
1. Really cold butter. You can put it in the freezer for 10 minutes if you like, or use it straight from therefrigerator. The dough will need to have little pieces of butter at the end, which will yield an airy and flaky pastry when baking and melting in the oven.
2. Really cold water AND in the rightamount. Place one cup of water in the freezer (Same idea of the butter - we need to keep the pieces of butter cold and not "overheat the dough). Use as much water as needed for thedough to come together. Not too much. Which brings us to the next tip.
3. Weight the flour if you can, or measure it correctly. It's always a common mistake to pick up too much flour when packing your cup. More flour will require more water.
OR: remember to be flexible. Add more water than the recipe asks for if needed until you get the dough consistency just right!
4. Last but not least: do notovermix the dough. You need to be quick and just mix until needed. This is why I like to use a food processor. It takes only a few seconds to cut the butter into the flour and mix it all up. As I already mentioned, we want little pieces of butter in the dough to make a flaky pie crust. NOT the smooth dough we do for bread or pizza dough.
Now, let's talk about the apple filling.
What I strongly recommend is to let the apple slices sit at room temperature in a colander for at least 30 minutes when coated with lemon juice, cinnamon, and sugar.
The apple slices will release a lot of their juice which means they will not shrink as much when baking. The result, the pie will be nice and filled with sliced apples, with no empty gapbetween the shell and the apple! And no soggy bottom crust. I know you can agree, that NO ONE likes a wet pie bottom that looks underbaked!
So: Collect the juice released by the apple and use it to make a delicious denser syrup: mix with a little butter and simmer until it gets thick and golden. Add it to the filling (all or just some of it). Note: I add corn starch to the apple to dense up all the juice when baking ... again: no soggy bottom!
I know waiting for the apple to rest is time-consuming, but it's really worth the extra step. You can play with the dough and make the lattice while you wait!
One last word of advice: serve warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. THE best! Ready to try it too?!?
Here is my step-by-step easy apple pie recipe!
Other pie recipes or tart recipes you might like:
Made-from-Scratch Pumpkin Pie
Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
Salted Caramel-Chocolate Tart
Peach and Blueberry Galette
HOW TO MAKE THE LATTICE TOP CRUST:
Fold the edges
Flute the edges to seal
PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD: Step by step recipe APPLIE PIE
FAQs
Go with Granny Smith apples. Known for its vibrant green color, this apple is tangy and tart and features firm flesh that won't get too mushy when cooked down. Braeburn: For a sweeter take on the spicy apple flavor, choose Braeburns for baking your pie.
Should you Prebake your pie crust for apple pie? ›
You do not need to pre-bake a pie crust for an apple pie or any baked fruit pie really, but we do freeze the dough to help it stay put. Pre-baking the pie crust is only required when making a custard pie OR when making a fresh fruit pie. you should probably get: Pie weights are super helpful to have for pre-baking.
How do you keep the bottom crust of apple pie from getting soggy? ›
Crust dust is a 1:1 mixture of flour and granulated sugar. When baking a pie, especially a fruit pie, a couple of teaspoons of crust dust sprinkled into the bottom of the crust will help prevent the crust from becoming saturated with juicy filling as it bakes.
Who makes the best apple pie in the United States? ›
Home of the award-winning Apple Pie Baked in a Paper Bag, The Elegant Farmer is noted by Gourmet Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Food Network and Milwaukee Magazine as having “the best pie in America.” The award-winning Apple Pie Baked in a Paper Bag has been the farmer's signature item for decades, baking over a ...
What apples not to use for apple pie? ›
There are a few apples that don't make the cut. While great for snacking, Gala, Fuji and Red Delicious are the most common apples that won't hold up in the oven and will give you a watery-mushy pie, tart or cake.
What makes a high quality pie? ›
Crust is uniformly browned and golden brown around the side, somewhat lighter brown on bottom. Crust is flaky and tender. Filling is firm, smooth, and sufficiently cooked. Flavor is well-blended, with the filling characteristic for that kind of pie.
What happens if you don't chill pie crust before baking? ›
Non-chilled crust is fairly crumbly and less smooth, which makes it harder to roll out and means it may not look as polished. It will brown more quickly and the final product will likely be tougher, heavier, and more doughy – none of those in a bad way. It will likely have a more intense, butter flavor.
What not to do when making pie crust? ›
Whether you use a food processor, a stand mixer, or your hands to incorporate the ingredients together, overmixing is a common mistake that leads to a chewy crust. It's tempting when baking to combine the ingredients completely, but the texture should resemble a coarse meal before adding your liquid.
Should you poke holes in the bottom of pie crust? ›
With docking, the holes allow steam to escape, so the crust should stay flat against the baking dish when it isn't held down by pie weights or a filling. Otherwise the crust can puff up, not only impacting appearance but also leaving you with less space for whatever filling you have planned.
Should I bake the bottom pie crust first? ›
But the one surefire way to make certain your pie's crust will be golden brown, crisp, and delicious — just as appealing as its filling — is to prebake it. That's right: bake the bottom crust first, before adding the filling.
Add pie weights, dry rice, dried beans or (as I've done here) dry wheat berries, enough to fill the pan 2/3 full. Chill the crust for 30 minutes; this will solidify the fat, which helps prevent shrinkage. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven, and lift out the paper and weights.
Should pie filling be cold before baking? ›
When it's time to add the fillings, make sure they're cool before you add them to the pastry – room temperature at a minimum. Add a hot steamy filling to your blind-baked or raw pastry and you'll find yourself with a soggy bottom.
How to make the perfect pie edges? ›
With the thumb and index finger of one hand, pinch the edge of the crust. Press down between the two fingers with the index finger of the other hand. Repeat this process around the edge of the pie at about ½-inch intervals.
