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Ok, confession time…
I’m not fancy. *hangs head in shame* I’m a perfectionist who isn’t perfect. I’m entirely grateful for the word “rustic” in reference to imperfectly presented food in the culinary world. I exemplify that.
Next…
I don’t like crust. (don’t hate me) I’m really not patient with rolling it out perfectly and even then, I’m not a huge fan of eating crust.
You know who IS a fan of crust? My family. You know what they could care less about? If it looks like it came out of a magazine. So, rustic it is!
The great news is that I have a great crust recipe that makes enough for a two-crust deep-dish pie with a little left over for snacks! It’s loaded with butter which makes it flaky and crispy. It almost converts me to a crust eater.
So, grab your apples and let’s put this sucker together… quick and easy!
Peel, core and slice your apples. Make sure the slices are uniform in size.
Add in the sugar, flour and spices and coat evenly. Set this aside while you work on the pie crust.
Combine the flour and salt and then cube 3 sticks of very cold butter and add it to your dry mixture. Using a pastry cutter, work the butter in to the flour mixture leaving pea-sized chunks of butter. Slowly start adding your ice water to the mixture just until the dough forms a ball when mixed together. You really don’t want to overwork this because it will make your crust tough and, well, that’s no one’s favorite!
Ok, I admit that this seems like a lot of butter but hear me out. This butter creates a lamination effect causing some serious crispy layers! This crust isn’t dry and powdery, it is crispy and full of buttery goodness!
Roll the dough out so it goes well over the edge of your pie pan. You want extra dough to flute the edges
See!? Imperfect… Rustic…
Lay the bottom crust in the pan.
Roll out another circle to lay on top. Fill the pan with the apple pie mixture. Now, lay the top crust over the mixture. Then roll the bottom crust sides onto the top crust sides. Then pinch the edges together.
I thought about trying to describe how to flute the edges but I’m not sure I would do very well with that. I did a quick search and YouTube has you covered on this one so check it out on there. It’s pretty simple but a technique that is better seen than read about.
I cut little bird tracks in my crust and a small hole in the center for the steam to release. Sprinkle some sugar on top and pop it in to a 425-degree oven and bake!
I made this pie late in the day. That meant that it would not be cool enough to eat until the morning! Oh, the indignation from the boys in this family! I promised them they could eat pie for breakfast in the morning. I mean, that’s a thing, right!? Fruit… bread… Sounds like breakfast to me!
See the layers? Last confession…
I ate the whole slice. Crust and all.
Print RecipeHomemade Apple Pie
Ingredients
Apple Pie Filling
- 1 Cup White Sugar
- 1/3 Cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
- Dash Sea Salt
- 8 Cups Peeled, Cored and Sliced Granny Smith Apples
Pie Crust
- 3 1/2 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 3 Sticks Cold Butter
- 1 Cup Ice Water, As Needed
- White Sugar
Instructions
Pre-heat oven at 425 degrees
Apple Pie Filling
- Peel, core and slice apples until you have 8 cups of slices (about 7+ apples should do it)
- Combine sugar, flour, spices and salt together in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle the sugar and spices mixture over the apples and stir to combine.
- Set aside.
Pie Crust
- Combine flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Cube cold butter and add it to the flour and salt mixture.
- With a pastry cutter, blend the flour mixture and butter until the butter pieces are the size of a pea.
- Slowly add the ice water until the dough holds together. Don't work the mixture too much. Just mix it until it forms a ball.
- Cut the dough in half and set one half aside.
- On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough to about two inches past the sides of your pie pan.
- Gently lift the crust and lay it inside the pie pan fitting it to the bottom and sides carefully with the extra crust laying over the sides.
- Spoon the apple pie filling into the crust.
- Roll out the second half of your pie dough the way you did the first.
- Gently place the dough on top of the pie filling.
- Cut off excess dough to about 1/2 inch from the sides of the pie pan then roll the bottom and top crusts together and flute the edges.
- With a sharp knife, make slits in the top crust to allow the steam to release.
- Sprinkle the top with white sugar.
- Place in the pre-heated oven and set the timer for 40 minutes.
- The pie is done when the crust is golden brown.
- Set on a cooling rack. Wait until it's cool before you slice it, so the filling doesn't run out.