For the first time this season in the South Bay, the weather actually felt like fall–bright sunshine, crisp chilly breeze. I snuggled in bed with my dog Violet this morning without fear of overheating–for a little dog she generates more heat that an electric blanket blasting on high. When Violet decided she’d had enough of snuggling and needed to pee, we shuffled our way through the grounds of our apartment complex, littered with mounds of fallen leaves, twigs and branches. Violet reveled in it, anointing the fresh piles with judicious amounts of her precious reserve. That is how she welcomes fall.
I, on the other hand, look forward to baking with abandon without having to turn on the AC. Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous…because it is (don’t judge me!), but sometimes I need to bake even when it’s 90 degrees outside. At least I try to do it once the sun sets. There is comfort in a warm oven.
Same can be said about apples. My friend and neighbor Rosie dropped off a bag for me, plucked from a friend’s tree. I’m guessing they’re a variety similar to Pink Lady, perfect for baking–exactly why Rosie brought them over.
She has a knack for bringing over ingredients destined to become a baked good…lemons for lemon bar…organic sweet potatoes for doggie treats (her dog’s allergic to protein)…ube jam for Ube Crinkle cookies (a later blog post).
Of course my first instinct was to turn the apples into a classic double crusted Apple Pie. Problem was, I couldn’t locate my glass Pyrex pie dish! Rosie offered up her lovely ceramic 10″ deep dish but unfortunately it was a tad too big for the amount of apples I had on hand. I did, however, have a shallow cast iron skillet, which turned out to be the perfect vessel to contain all that deliciousness.
Next bit of improvisation involved ingredients for the pie filling. I barely squeaked by with enough apples, which were not as tart as I would’ve liked. Since I didn’t have any lemons or lemon juice, I added a splash of apple cider vinegar for acidity. To balance out the sweetness from the sugars and to impart a tiny bit of umami, I decided to mix a heaping teaspoon of miso paste into some leftover caramel paste (roughly 2/3 c.) I found in the frig.
The trick to making the perfect apple pie filling is to let the sliced apples macerate in the lemon juice or cider vinegar, sugars and spice (I chose to keep it simple with just cinnamon) for about 5-10 mins. to allow the juices to collect in the bowl. Drain off the excess liquid into a sauce pan, whisk in a few tablespoons of cornstarch, then bring the mixture to a full boil, whisking continuously to prevent lumps. Fold the thickened mixture into the apples to coat evenly. At this point, I drizzle in about 1/4 c. of warmed miso caramel.
My go-to pie dough recipe is fairly foolproof because it uses chilled vodka and a touch of cider vinegar for part of the liquid, as well as a combination of butter and (organic) shortening. Make sure everything is COLD–that’s it. I blitz mine in a food processor, but you can easily use your fingers or a pastry cutter. I just find that quick pulses in the food processor brings everything together without producing much “heat,” which is the enemy of good pastry dough formation. You want to process the flour and fats until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, so that the end result is a dough that has distinct small pieces of fat speckled throughout.
Once I assembled the pie, I popped it in the frig. to chill out while I preheated the oven to 425°F. You need that blast of high heat to set the pastry for the first 15 mins. before lowering the oven temperature to 375°F for the rest of the bake, about 35-40 mins. Key things to remember–preheat a lined sheet pan on a rack set in the middle of the oven (you don’t want to have to clean up drippage on the oven floor or have a soggy bottom crust for that matter), cut deep enough vent holes in the top crust to let the steam escape, and brush the surface with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse or raw sugar for a prettier pie.
Double Crusted Apple Pie
Makes One 9″ deep dish or 10″ shallow skillet pie
- 6 medium Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/3″ thick
- 1/4 c. golden brown sugar
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1 t. ground cinnamon
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1 – 2 T. cider vinegar or lemon juice (depending of apple tartness)
- 3 T. cornstarch
- 1/4 c. miso caramel*
Pie Dough:
- 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 t. kosher salt
- 2 T. sugar
- 12 T. cold butter, cut into small chunks
- 8 T. cold (organic) shortening
- 1/4 c. chilled vodka
- 1 T. cider vinegar
- 1/4 c. ice water
Combine dry ingredients in processor, then pulse a couple of times to blend. Add the butter and shortening and pulse in 2 second intervals until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine liquids in measuring cup and gradually drizzle through feeding tube, pulsing intermittently until dough comes together. Don’t over process. Divide dough in half, transferring each half onto plastic wrap. Flatten each portion into flat disk, wrap and chill for at least an hour before tolling out.