Dutch Apple Pie

I meant it to be rustic...really I did! 

Before I get started, let's take a moment and notice that I now have more entries for 2018 than I had for all of 2017. And it's only February.

I would love to be a great baker, continually whipping up cakes, pies, and pastries that awe my family and friends but, in reality, it's starting to be very apparent that my gifts just don't include the ability to use an oven. Sure, I can manage the easy recipes but, when things get a bit more tricky, I'm inevitably going to wind up with a finished product that isn't what I'd hoped for, in terms of taste or appearance, or both. Even knowing this fact deep inside my gut, I persist in delusions of somehow coming up with new techniques and talents that enable me to conquer my oven.

Well, that was depressing! It sounds worse in print - in reality, I'm ok finding the recipes I can successfully create and letting the others go by the wayside. Except when I get a hankering to try something out of my usual repertoire, like this dutch apple pie.

Emily has her own fabulous apple pie, which I've made, under her careful tutelage, but this recipe is a slightly different take on that pie. I've been looking at the Smitten Kitchen site picture of that lovely latticed top and thinking I needed to make my own woven crust. Why not up my game and create a new, prettier top.

Yea...so I started with all kinds of high hopes involving making a gorgeous photo-shoot worthy pie. The ingredients for the crust actually came together better than they usually do, so that was a great start. Once the dough ball was chilling, I could concentrate on the insides of my pie. Peeling, coring and cutting up apples was the most time-consuming part of this recipe, but also one of the more fun parts. Nothing makes me happier than having a legitimate reason to use a kitchen gadget such as my decades old apple peeler machine.  It's so satisfying to watch ribbons of peel pile up on the counter top, while the apples wind through the corer. Sure makes short work of what would, otherwise, be a long and tedious task.

Once my apples were tossed with the other ingredients, I felt like things were going pretty well on this pie. I may even have gotten a bit cocky; at least until the dough had to be cut and rolled out. The bottom crust was pretty straightforward but really, how does Deb get her strips so perfect for the sides of the spring form pan? Pictures show hers to be just the right width and beautifully placed along the sides of the pan.  Mine, not so much! By the time I'd pieced and pinched my different width and length side "panels" it became apparent that this pie was going to be far more "rustic" than Deb's - and by rustic I mean, sloppy and not pretty to look at.

Now we get to the top lattice. Wow. I don't know how Deb manages to actually weave her crust pieces because mine kept breaking the minute I'd lift them up. I finally gave up on weaving, deciding to, instead, simply lay one direction on top of the other.  Not pretty but it got the job done.

My finished pie seemed short on the bubbling juices Deb described but when I looked at her photos, it does appear that her pie was also on the less juicy side. Perhaps this is how Dutch Apple pies are supposed to present? Warmed up with whipped cream, the pie was yummy, even though it looked way less than perfect.

Dutch Apple Pie
Smitten Kitchen

CRUST
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt
2 1/3 cups (300 grams) flour
14 tablespoons (200 grams) butter, diced, no need to soften
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
2 tablespoons (30 ml) cold water
FILLING AND FINISH
3 1/3 pounds (1500 grams or about 5 large apples) peeled, cored and sliced
1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
About 1/2 cup (70 grams) raisins
4 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs (I used panko)
1 large egg, beaten, to finish

DIRECTIONS
Make your dough: In the bottom of a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the diced butter and using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal, with the largest pieces the size of small peas. Add the egg, vanilla, and water, and if using a pastry blender, use that to work them into the butter-flour mixture, or if not, use a fork to work it in. Reach hands into bowl and lightly knead the mixture together into a single mass. Transfer to a piece of parchment or waxed paper or plastic wrap, and wrap it tightly. Chill in fridge until firm, at least 60 minutes.
At some point during this hour, make the filling: Combine apples, lemon, cinnamon, sugar and raisins in a large bowl and toss to combine.

Assemble crust: Coat a 9- to 9 1/2-inch (24 cm) diameter springform pan lightly with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Remove chilled dough from fridge and cut it roughly into thirds. On a well-floured counter, roll the first third to a circle the diameter your pan and fit it into the bottom. Roll out the second third of the dough and cut it into strips the height of your springform pan (usually 3 inches). Patch them up the inner sides of the springform. Use your fingertips to press and seal the sides and base together. If any holes form or there are spots you’re worried aren’t sealed well, patch in another pinch of dough.

Heat your oven: To 350°F (175°C).

Assemble pie: Sprinkle the bottom of the pie crust with breadcrumbs. Pour the apple-raisin mixture on top. Roll the last third of the dough into a large round and cut into thin strips. (Mine were about 1/2-inch wide.) Space them in a lattice pattern over the filling, either by arranging half in one direction and the second half in the other direction on top, or by getting cute and weaving them together. (Here is an ancient set of directions from me.) Trim the overhang so that the latticed top meets the walls of the crust, and press/pinch them together to seal it. Brush beaten egg over top crust.

Bake: For 60 to 70 minutes, until you can see filling bubbling slightly up between the latticed strips (use this to determine doneness, and the baking time as just an estimate), and crust is a deep golden brown. Let cool in springform on rack for 45 minutes or so before running a knife around the outside of the crust to ensure it isn’t sticking to the pan in any place, and opening the ring to serve it with an abundance of softly whipped, barely sweetened cream.