APPLE LATTICE PIE

I remember the first time I tried apple pie was when I went to McDonald Singapore, and at that time McDonald haven't open any franchise in Indonesia yet. So, when McDonald opened the first franchise in Jakarta more than 15 years ago, my dad bought a lot of burgers, sundae ice cream, french fries and apple pies. My first impression of apple pie was .... yuck! with the cinnamon-soggy apple filling. But then, after I ate it more, I found it tasted good!

Now, I like the smell of cinnamon baked with soggy apples. Especially, since I lived here where most of the cakes and desserts are using cinnamon.

I used Paula Deen's recipe for the filling and Simple Recipe for the pie crust. Those recipes' combination made a perfect apple pie :).

PS: I like the part of braiding the pie crust (aka lattice style) the most ;).

Apple Lattice Pie

Ingredients:
For Filling:
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling
Freshly ground nutmeg, to taste
7 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 lemon, zested and juiced

For Pie Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 8 Tbsp ice water

Directions:

Filling:
Mix together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. In another bowl, sprinkle apples with the juice of 1 lemon and toss Stir in the sugar mixture to evenly coat the apples.

Pie Crust:
1. Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl; toss it with a pastry cutter. Add butter and toss it again, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, tossing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and toss again.

2. Remove dough from bowl and place in a mound on a clean surface. Gently shape into 2 discs. Knead the dough just enough to form the discs, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.

3. Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.

4. Add filling to the pie.

5. Roll out second disk of dough, as before. Cut the dough into 1 inch wide. Gently braid every dough's pieces to the top of the filling in the pie. Pinch top and bottom of dough rounds firmly together. Trim excess dough with kitchen shears, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Fold the edge of the top piece of dough over and under the edge of the bottom piece of dough, pressing together. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with a fork.

Finishing:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Brush the top of the pie with egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Bake pie for 45 minutes. Let rest 20 minutes before slicing.