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Thursday, 24 July 2008 |
For almost a century, the fat of choice in most American homes was hydrogenated vegetable oil, but many people are rediscovering the joys of cooking and baking with naturally saturated fats like butter and lard. If you’ve never had it before, a pastry crust made with pure butter will be a revelation. The key to success is leaving the butter in visible pieces throughout the flour, then adding the water all at once to make a scrappy mass of dough that is visibly flaky and not too smooth. For the apples, be sure to choose a variety that is appropriate for baking. I like to use Gravenstein.
(Makes one 10-inch pie)
For the Butter Pastry:
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/3 cup cold water
For the Apple Filling:
6 large apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1.) Prepare the pastry, combine the flour, salt, and butter in a food processor or large mixing bowl and process or work the mixture with a fork until it is crumbly with bits of butter ranging in size from bee-bees to small peas scattered throughout. Add the water all at once and stir loosely together or pulse the food processor on and off until the mixture comes together to form a scrappy mass of dough. Do not over process; don’t worry about making a smooth ball. Without handling the dough any more than necessary, divide in half and press each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate it while preparing the fruit.
2.) Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare the pie filling; toss the sliced apples with the lemon juice, sugar, and cornstarch in a mixing bowl.
4.) On a well-floured surface, roll out one disk of the pastry into a 12-inch circle, fold it in quarters so that it can be lifted without tearing, and unfold it into a 10-inch pie pan. Press the pastry into place without stretching, (Stretching the dough would make the crust tough).
5.) Pile the filling into the pastry-lined pan. Roll the second disk of dough into a 12-inch square, and with a sharp knife, cut the pastry into 12 strips. Weave the strips into a lattice pattern on top of the fruit and pinch the corners into place.
6.) Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is boiling out of the crust, about 1 hour. Cool thoroughly on a rack before slicing.
Copyright, Greg Atkinson, 1999
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