Classic Double-Crust Apple Pie

Before you start

Apple pie fails in two familiar ways. Raw apples shrink as they bake, leaving a dome of crust floating over a gap, and the juice they release turns the bottom into a puddle. Both problems come from water leaving the fruit inside the oven. This version moves that step to the stovetop: the sliced apples are warmed gently in a covered pot until they soften and give up their juice, then the juice is boiled down to a syrup and folded back in with a little cornstarch.

Use a mix of apples. Firm tart varieties such as Granny Smith or Northern Spy keep their shape, while sweeter ones such as Honeycrisp, Braeburn or Golden Delicious bring flavor and break down a little to bind the slices. The other decision is patience after baking. The filling needs about four hours on a rack to thicken; cut it hot and even a well-made pie runs.

Ingredients

• All-butter crust375 g (3 cups, spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1¼ tsp fine salt
• 255 g (1 cup plus 2 tbsp) unsalted butter — cold, cut into 1.5 cm cubes
• 120–150 ml (½–⅔ cup) ice water
• Filling1.6 kg (about 8 medium) mixed apples — half firm-tart, half sweet; peeled, cored and sliced 6 mm (¼ in) thick
• 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
• 55 g (¼ cup packed) light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 2 tbsp (16 g) cornstarch
• Finish1 large egg — beaten with 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp coarse sugar — optional

Method

1. Whisk the flour, sugar and salt. Work in the cold butter until the largest pieces are the size of hazelnuts and the rest look like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in 120 ml ice water and toss with a fork; add more a spoonful at a time only if a squeezed handful falls apart.
2. Divide the dough in two, making one piece slightly larger. Press each into a 2.5 cm thick disk, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Toss the sliced apples with both sugars, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in the large pot. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring gently every few minutes, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the slices bend without breaking and a pool of juice has formed. They should still be firm in the center.
4. Tip the apples into the colander over a bowl and let them drain and cool for about 20 minutes. Boil the collected juice in the pot until it reduces to about 120 ml (½ cup) and looks syrupy. Cool slightly, whisk in the cornstarch, and toss the syrup with the apples.
5. Heat the oven to 220°C (425°F) with a rack in the lower third and the baking sheet on it. Roll the larger disk into a 30 cm (12 in) circle about 3 mm thick and ease it into the pie plate without stretching. Pile in the cooled filling, mounding it slightly in the middle.
6. Roll the second disk to 28 cm (11 in) and lay it over the fruit. Trim both crusts to a 1.5 cm overhang, fold the edge under itself and crimp. Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with coarse sugar, and cut four or five 5 cm slits in the top. Chill the assembled pie for 15 minutes.
7. Bake on the hot sheet for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 190°C (375°F) and bake 50 to 60 minutes more, until the crust is deep golden and thick juices bubble slowly through the slits. Cover the rim with foil if it browns before the center.
8. Cool on a wire rack for at least 4 hours before slicing. The filling looks loose while warm and firms as the starch sets.

Tips for success

• Slice the apples evenly. Mixed thicknesses mean some slices turn to sauce while others stay crunchy.
• Precooking lets you pack more fruit into the crust because the slices have already shrunk, which is why this pie stays tall without a gap under the lid.
• Bubbling at the edge is not enough. Wait until you see juice bubbling in the center slits; that tells you the cornstarch has reached a full boil.

Substitutions

Cornstarch

Use 3 tbsp all-purpose flour. The filling sets a little softer and looks slightly cloudy rather than glossy.

Mixed apples

All Granny Smith works but tastes sharper and stays very firm; raise the sugar by 25 g. Avoid McIntosh on its own, which collapses into applesauce.

Light brown sugar

Replace it with more granulated sugar for a cleaner apple flavor, or with dark brown sugar for a deeper, caramel note.

Variations

Cheddar crust

Add 85 g finely grated sharp cheddar to the flour before the butter and reduce the salt to 1 tsp.

Salted caramel apple

Drizzle 80 ml thick caramel sauce over the filling before adding the top crust; cut the brown sugar to 30 g.

Troubleshooting

Big gap between the top crust and the filling

The apples shrank in the oven. Precook them until they bend, and let them cool before filling so the butter in the crust stays cold.

Filling runs out when the pie is cut

The pie was sliced too warm or the juices never bubbled in the center. Cool for a full 4 hours and bake until bubbling is visible through the middle vents.

Pale, damp bottom crust

Bake low in the oven on a preheated sheet, and choose a glass or thin metal plate. Ceramic plates heat slowly and often need 10 extra minutes.

Storage

Keep the pie loosely covered at room temperature for up to 2 days, then refrigerate for up to 2 more days. Rewarm slices at 175°C (350°F) for 10 minutes to recrisp the crust. The unbaked, assembled pie freezes well for up to 3 months; bake from frozen, adding about 20 minutes at the lower temperature.

Safety notes

Do not taste the raw dough; uncooked flour can carry harmful bacteria. Contains wheat, milk and egg.