American Apple Pie with All-Butter Flaky Crust

FOR THE CRUST:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Dump the cubed butter on top and work in with a pastry cutter until coarse crumbs are formed and all the flour is incorporated with the butter.

Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time and toss (don’t press) the dough around with a fork. You will need to use something between 3-6 tablespoons of water, depending on how humid it is. I usually use about 3 Tablespoons. You’ve used enough water when you can pinch the dough and it sticks together. Try not to overwork the dough.

Dump the moist crumbs onto a clean and dry work surface. Gently gather them together into a dome shape, cut the dome in half, and then press each half into a disk. Wrap each disk in plastic and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Try to work quickly and handle the dough as little as possible so the warmth of your hands doesn’t melt the butter.

ASSEMBLING THE PIE:

Take one the disks of dough and lay it on a large piece of waxed paper. Cover it with another sheet of waxed paper and roll the crust out into a circle about 3″ bigger in diameter than your pie plate. Roll from the middle outwards, not back and forth. Remove the top sheet of waxed paper. Center the pie plate upside down on the dough and flip it over. Remove the bottom sheet and press the dough down into the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Leave the dough hanging over the edges for now. Place the pie shell in the refrigerator.

In a large bowl, stir the apples up with the remaining ingredients. Let sit for at least 15 minutes covered with plastic wrap.

After the apple mixture has set 15 minutes, it will be very juicy. Stir it up again to evenly coat the apples. Take the pie shell out of the refrigerator and pour the apple mixture into it. Place back in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, roll out the second disk of dough just like the first one. Take your filled pie shell out of the refrigerator and lay the second crust evenly on top of the pie. Cut off excess dough so that it’s even with the bottom crust. You want about an inch hanging over the sides. Reserve the excess dough pieces for making decorative shapes if you like. Roll the edges up, curling the bottom dough around the top dough and pinching to seal. Crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork.

Cut a few slits in the top dough for ventilation. If desired, roll out the extra dough and cut decorative shapes. I make a few leaves to put between three ventilation slits. Adhere them to the pie with a bit of water. Next, brush the entire top of the pie with a bit of water and sprinkle with sugar.

At this point, I let the whole pie sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour. You don’t have to, but I find that it just helps if the crust is super cold before baking.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook another 40 minutes until the juices are bubbling through the slits. Once the pie crust has become golden brown to your liking, cover the pie with a foil tent and continue baking. Do this quickly so you don’t lose too much heat from the oven.

Let the pie cool thoroughly until just slightly warm. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream! Yum, yum, yum!

Store covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator. Warm individual slices in the microwave. In mine, it takes about 15 seconds.