For the Pie Crust:
200g Salted Butter
225g White Flour
110g Water (add a small ice cube, subtracting the weight of it to the amount of water, if not possible, just use cold water.)
1 Egg, to egg wash the top of the pastry.
For the Filling:
6 Green Apples
5tbsp Golden Caster Sugar; alternatively, Caster Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
1tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2tsp Ground Allspice
~25g Salted Butter
To Bake: 180°C Fan Oven (200°C Regular Oven) for 45 minutes. If pie is browning on top too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
How to Make:
1. First, begin the crust by adding the flour to a bowl. Take the salted butter out of the fridge (important it is fridge cold, meaning chilled for at least 30 minutes) and cut it into small cubes into the flour quickly, as to avoid it becoming too warm. Then quickly rub the butter into the flour with hands, until all the flour has touched butter but there are still streaks of butter remaining. The streaks of butter and coldness are important for the pastry to be flakey on top, whereas if the butter is rubbed fully into the flour it will be a shortcrust dough. Whether you want this or not is down to personal preference.
2. Add the cold water to the butter/flour mixture. Mix until it combines into a ball (but not too much as this will incorporate the butter too much.) Add more flour if crust dough is too sticky, all flour is different in how much water it absorbs. After this, pop into the fridge for a rest whilst you make the filling.
3. Peel, core and chop apples into thick slices. Add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice and mix. Leave this to seep moisture for around 15 minutes to avoid sogginess at the bottom of the pie.
4. Butter pie dish. Halve pastry and leave one half in the fridge. Knead the half that is left out until the butter is incorporated (this will form the shortcrust base to the pastry) and roll it into a thin layer, draping it into the pie dish. To get the pastry to dip into the corners of the pie dish, lift the edges and press the pastry delicately into the corners. Trim the edges of the pastry. The shortcrust is very forgiving and any mistakes can be repaired by the use of extra pastry and water as a glue.
5. Fill the pie dish with the apple slices and discard the juices that have seeped out. Add the 25g of salted butter in chunks to the top of the apple slices.
6. Roll out the other half of the pastry, and cut into either strips (for a lattice like shown above) or just a flat round that can then be placed atop the apples and have vent holes cut into it. Trim the edges of the pastry. Make sure to use a fork to 'crimp' the edges to ensure that the top and bottom of the pie stay connected, alternatively use water to glue the layers together if going for a different design.
7. Brush beaten egg on top of the pastry and add coarse, crystalline sugar such as demerara on top. The extra pastry can also be used to make some pastry decorations for the top of the pie at this point, just adding them on top of the egg washed pastry, and then coating them in egg too. If going for a more simple design, instead the leftover pastry can be used to make little pastry treats, a favourite of mine is an idea from my grandma which involves wrapping raisins, sugar and butter in pastry and baking for around 15-20 minutes.
8. Bake as specified above and leave to cool for around 30 minutes to an hour. Will be good stored at room temperature in an airtight container for around 2 days, or stored in the fridge for around 4 days. Lovely served warm with ice cream, custard or cream.