How to make an easy homemade apple pie, and bake it to perfection. The apple pie filling is simple, requires only a few ingredients, and yields the perfect homemade apple pie.
Add flour, 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of sea salt to a bowl and whisk.
Then, add cold butter and shortening cubes and cut it into the dry the mixture using a pastry blender until pea-sized clumps begin to form.
Drizzle in a ½ cup of water and stir with a sturdy wooden spoon until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Knead until the mixture comes together.
Cut the dough ball in half using a knife or a pastry cutter, and form into two flattened round disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until chilled through, at least 2 hours.
Have a rack placed in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 400°. Also, have ready a greased 9" pie dish.
Flour both sides of a pastry disk and set atop a floured work surface. Begin rolling out the disk until it is about an ⅛" thick and 12" in diameter. Transfer to the pie dish. Transfer to the refrigerator while you make the filling.
Have apples sliced and ready in a large mixing bowl.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Pour the mixture over the sliced apples and toss until the apples are evenly coated.
To make the egg wash, whisk together egg and water in a small bowl. Set aside until ready to use.
Transfer the apples to the pie dish, and roll out the second the second disk of dough, just under 12" in diameter. Center and place across the top of the apples. Crimp the edges of the dough together, and using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top of the pie and edges with egg wash.
Create vent holes for the pie using a pairing knife (see instructions below) or poke holes across the top using the tongs of a fork. Place the pie in the lower third of the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
Lower the oven temperature to 350°.
Move the pie to the center of the oven and bake for an additional 45 minutes. Add a pie shield or strips of aluminum foil to the outer edges of the pie at the 30-minute mark.
Remove from the oven and allow the pie to set for 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
To cut vent holes in the pie, find the center point of the pie and envision a small a square box around it. Insert the tip of a paring knife where the corners of the box would be, and one at a time, with the blade facing the outer edges of the pie, gently wiggle the knife side-to-side until a small, pear-shaped hole has been made on each corner of the imagined box.
The Anthony Kitchen