Apple Pie (Shelly's)

By Shelly17

This is my own personal recipe derived from a great deal of testing (and eating!). I have found that using an all Crisco crust makes the flakiest and most sturdy crust. But, it seems that Crisco may have changed over the years due to the 0 trans fat factor. To make up for a little lost flavor, I brush a little bit of melted butter on the edges which seems to work.

Ingredients

• Crust:
• 2 2/3 cups flour – sifted
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (or 1 stick) well-chilled shortening (Crisco, e.g.)
• 6-10 Tbs cold water
• Filling:
• Apples - Granny Smith + Braeburns (about 3 lbs total, 6 large or 9 medium)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 TB flour
• 1 TSP cinnamon
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground ginger
• 1 TB butter
• Melted Butter
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• Sugar for dusting top of pie

Preparation

Step 1

1. Before beginning, gather ALL ingredients, utensils, and bowls needed together first.

TIP: I use a glass Pyrex 9-inch pie pan. Lots of research indicates this particular pan makes the best pies. The glass also lets you see the bottom crust to make sure it is done later on during the cooking process.

TIP: I like to divide my space up into two areas for this recipe: one area for preparing the dough and the other for preparing the filling. (Having an efficient system for assembling the dough and filling may determine the successful outcome of the pie. At least it does for me.)

2. Start to prepare the dough. Blend sifted flour and salt in bowl.

3. Cut chilled shortening into 1/2-inch cubes. Cut the shortening into the flour with four blade cutter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

4. Sprinkle half the recommended amount of cold water over the mixture and toss it lightly with a fork. Press chunks down to bottom of bowl with fork. Add more water by the tablespoon, until dough is moist enough to hold together when pressed together.

TIP - Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together.

5. Shape dough quickly into a ball and divide in two, one ball slightly larger than the other. Flatten ball(s) into 1/2-inch thick round disk(s). Wrap each dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

TIP: I have a convenction oven, so I use the convenction setting for this recipe. Also, I position two racks in the oven as low as possible. I put a small cookie sheet on the bottom rack which will catch any drippings from the pie which will sit on the rack above.

7. Start assembling the filling. First, blend the dry ingredients for the filling (sugar through ginger) into a small bowl and set aside.

8. Next, peel and slice one apple at a time using an apple corer and slicer. Put slices into a large bowl. Once all apples are peeled and sliced, blend in the dry ingredients until all slices are well incorporated.

TIP: The best apples for me is a mixture of sweet and tart apples. Also, slices cut too thin have resulted in a mushy filling after cooking for me in the past. So, I like to keep cut slices at a medium thickness (1/2") which has worked perfectly since.

9. Remove the larger dough bowl from refrigerator and take off plastic wrap which will be the bottom crust.

10. Roll from center outward with steady pressure on a lightly floured work surface (or between two sheets of wax or parchment paper) into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate for the bottom crust. Transfer dough to pie plate by loosely rolling around rolling pin. Center the rolling pin over the pie plate, and then unroll, easing dough into pie plate.

11. Fill unbaked pie crust with apple filling. Dot apples with 1 TB butter cut in small pieces.

12. Roll out smaller dough disk. Transfer dough carefully onto filled pie. Trim edges of dough leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold top edge under bottom crust. Press edges together to seal and flute as desired.

13. Brush edges of crust with melted butter.

14. Brush the rest of the dough with egg and dust all with sugar. Cut slits for steam to escape.

15. Bake 1 hour + 10 minutes until pie is golden brown and edges of apple filling bubbles.