Apple Pie

So anybody who knows me knows about my addiction to baking and baked goods. It's an illness really. I'm getting help for it, the support group is working wonders, we're going to collect money in buckets and organise a benefit concert, I hear U2 is booked to play.

Right now, I'm obsessed with apple pie. Not the mediocre frozen dessert kind you stick in the microwave which has questionable apple content, but real, rustic, country-style apple pie, served with ice cream, the more the better.

This recipe has received high praise from anyone I've baked it for. I like to use slightly sour green apples for a nice contrast to the sweet brown sugar.




Ingredients

French Pastry Crust

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 3 tbsp. white sugar
  
• 1 cup butter, softened
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 tsp. white vinegar
  
• 5 tbsp. water
  

Apple Filling

• 4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
  
• 1/2 cup butter
  
• 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
  
• 1/4 cup water
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

To make the pie crust, combine all ingredients until mixture forms a ball. Add one more tablespoon of water if necessary. Allow to rest in the fridge until rolling out.

To make the apple filling, melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

Fill the pie pan with apples on top of the bottom crust, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice-work crust, then pour the sugar and butter liquid evenly over the apples. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the apples are soft and the crust is golden brown.