Perfect Apple Pie

By kimmie12

hands on time: 30 minutes
total time: 4 hours, 45 minutes, including crust

Ingredients

• Dough:
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plain yellow cornmeal
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup cold shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 8 to 10 Tbsp. chilled apple cider
• Pie:
• 4 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples; peeled and cut into 1/2-inch thick wedges
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Preparation

Step 1

Dough:

Stir together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles small peas. Mound flour mixture on 1 side of bowl. Drizzle 1 Tbsp. apple cider along edge of mixture in bowl. Using a fork, gently toss a small amount of flour mixture into cider just until dry ingredients are moistened. Move mixture to other side of bowl and repeat procedure with remaining cider, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until a dough forms. Gently gather dough into 2 flat disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 to 24 hours.

Pie:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Let stand 15 minutes, gently stirring occasionally. Roll 1 Cornmeal Crust Dough disk to 1/8 inch thickness (about 11 inches wide) on a well-floured surface. Gently press dough into a 9 inch glass pie plate. Spoon apple mixture into crust, packing tightly and mounding in center; dot with 1 Tbsp. butter cut into pieces. Roll remaining dough disk to 1/8 inch thickness (about 13 inches wide). Gently place dough over filling; fold edges under and crimp, sealing to bottom crust. Place pie on a jelly-roll pan. Cut 4 to 5 slits in top of pie for steam to escape. Bake at 375 degrees on an oven rack one-third up from bottom of oven 50 minutes. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake 40 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool 1 1/2 to 2 hours before serving.