Classic Apple Pie From Scratch

A good apple pie has a crust that’s flaky and browned on the bottom as well as the top, and a filling of tender slices that hold their shape in a thick, cinnamon-scented syrup, not a puddle. This recipe gets there with an all-butter crust and one extra step for the filling: the sliced apples sit in sugar for an hour, and the juice they release is boiled down to a syrup before it goes back in. The filling sets better, the crust doesn’t go soggy, and you don’t get a gap between the top crust and the apples.

It’s a project, but most of the time is waiting. Read through the timeline before you start.

Makes one 23 cm (9 in) double-crust pie, about 8 slices.

A timeline

• At least 2 hours before baking (or up to 2 days ahead): make the dough and chill it.
• 1 ½ hours before baking: slice the apples and leave them in sugar.
• Baking: about 1 hour 10 minutes.
• Cooling: at least 3–4 hours, so the filling can set. A pie for dinner is best baked in the morning.

Ingredients

All-butter crust

• 315 g (2 ½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, spooned and levelled
• 1 tbsp (12 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 225 g (1 cup / 2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1.5 cm (½ in) cubes
• 90–120 ml (6–8 tbsp) ice water

Filling

• 1.3 kg (about 3 lb) apples, about 7 medium, a mix of tart and sweet
• 100 g (½ cup packed) light brown sugar
• 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ tsp fine sea salt
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp (24 g) cornflour (cornstarch)
• 15 g (1 tbsp) butter

To finish

• 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tbsp (15 ml) milk or cream
• 1 tbsp (12 g) coarse or granulated sugar

Choosing apples

Use a mix. Tart, firm apples like Granny Smith or Bramley give the filling its sharpness. Sweeter firm apples like Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Jonagold, Pink Lady or Golden Delicious hold their shape and add flavour. Half Granny Smith and half one of the others is a reliable combination.

Avoid apples that turn soft quickly when cooked, like McIntosh or Gala, unless they make up only a small part. They collapse into sauce. Bramleys also break down, but mixed with a firmer variety they give a nice soft layer around the slices.

Making the crust

1. Whisk the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and toss to coat. With your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the butter in until most of it is in pieces the size of peas, with some larger flat pieces the size of almonds. Those pieces of butter turn into steam in the oven and make flaky layers, so don’t work it to fine crumbs.
2. Drizzle in 90 ml (6 tbsp) ice water and mix with a fork until the dough starts to form clumps. Squeeze a handful: if it holds together, it’s ready. If it crumbles, add more water a tablespoon at a time.
3. Turn it out, press it into a mass, and divide it in two, one slightly larger than the other. Flatten each into a 2.5 cm (1 in) thick disc, wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.

Keep everything cold. If the butter starts to look greasy or the kitchen is warm, chill the bowl for 15 minutes before continuing. A food processor works too: pulse the butter in 8–10 times, then add the water and pulse just until clumps form.

Preparing the filling

4. Peel, core and slice the apples about 6 mm (¼ in) thick. Toss with both sugars, the spices, salt, lemon juice and vanilla. Leave for 1 hour at room temperature, stirring once or twice. The apples will release about 120–180 ml (½–¾ cup) of juice and soften slightly.
5. Drain the apples in a colander set over a bowl, saving the juice. Pour the juice into a small saucepan with the butter and boil for 5–8 minutes, until it’s reduced by about half and thick and syrupy.
6. Toss the drained apples with the cornflour, then pour over the syrup and toss again. The syrup may harden into strands on the cold apples; it melts again in the oven.

Assembling and baking

7. Put a heavy baking sheet on the lowest shelf of the oven and heat the oven to 220°C (425°F).
8. On a floured surface, roll out the larger disc to a 30 cm (12 in) circle about 3 mm (⅛ in) thick. Lift it into the pie dish and ease it into the corners without stretching it. Leave the overhang. Refrigerate while you roll out the top.
9. Roll the second disc to a 28 cm (11 in) circle.
10. Pile the apples into the base, mounding them in the centre and packing them tightly with your hands. Lay the top crust over. Trim both crusts to a 1.5 cm (½ in) overhang, fold them under together, and crimp the edge with your fingers or a fork.
11. Brush the top with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and cut 4–5 slits for steam. If the dough has gone soft, chill the whole pie for 15 minutes.
12. Bake on the hot baking sheet for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 190°C (375°F) and bake 45–55 minutes more. If the edges brown too quickly, cover them with a ring of foil.
13. The pie is done when the crust is a deep golden brown and the juices bubble thickly and slowly through the slits. A skewer through a slit should meet little resistance from the apples. Bubbling matters: cornflour only thickens once it has boiled, so a pie taken out too early will be runny.
14. Cool on a wire rack for at least 3 hours, and ideally 4, before slicing. The filling sets as it cools.

Glass dishes let you check the bottom crust; it should be golden, not pale. Metal dishes bake the bottom fastest. With ceramic, allow the longer end of the baking time.

If something goes wrong

Runny filling. Either the pie didn’t bubble long enough, or it was cut warm. Cool it fully next time. A runny pie can be chilled overnight; it firms up considerably.

Pale, soggy bottom. The oven wasn’t hot enough at the start, or the dish was on too high a shelf. The preheated tray on the bottom shelf fixes this.

Gap under the top crust. Raw apples shrink as they cook while the crust sets in place. Letting them sit in sugar first, and packing them tightly, solves most of this.

Tough crust. Too much water, or the dough was overworked. Mix only until it holds together.

Crust shrank in the dish. It was stretched as it went in, or not chilled enough. Ease it in loosely and let it rest in the fridge.

Variations

• Lattice top: cut the top crust into 2.5 cm (1 in) strips and weave them over the filling. A lattice lets more steam out, so the filling reduces a little more.
• Crumble top: use one crust only and top with 100 g (¾ cup) flour, 75 g (⅓ cup packed) brown sugar, 50 g (½ cup) rolled oats and 85 g (6 tbsp) cold butter, rubbed together into clumps. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 55–65 minutes.
• Shop-bought pastry: use 2 sheets of refrigerated pie dough. Let them soften slightly at room temperature so they don’t crack when unrolled.
• Spices: add a pinch of ground cardamom or ginger, or swap the vanilla for 1 tbsp of brandy or Calvados.

Make ahead and storage

• Dough: keeps for 2 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
• Unbaked pie: assemble without egg wash, wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen: egg wash, then 25 minutes at 220°C (425°F) and 50–60 minutes at 190°C (375°F), until bubbling.
• Baked pie: keeps at room temperature, loosely covered, for up to 2 days, then in the fridge for 2–3 days more.
• Reheating: warm slices in a 175°C (350°F) oven for 10–15 minutes. The microwave softens the crust.

Serving

Serve it at room temperature or slightly warm, with vanilla ice cream, softly whipped cream, custard or, in the American way, a slice of sharp cheddar. It’s a classic for autumn holidays, and the crust and filling can be made over two days to spread out the work.

If you’re baking for a crowd, our brioche cinnamon rolls use the same warm spices and can be made the night before. And for an autumn dinner before the pie, our French onion soup can also be made ahead.

Measuring in cups or need a different oven setting? See our kitchen conversions guide.

Classic Apple Pie from Scratch

A 23 cm (9 in) double-crust pie with a flaky all-butter crust and a cinnamon apple filling. The apples are macerated and their juice reduced to a syrup, so the filling sets without going soggy.

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Chilling and cooling 5 hours hrs

Total Time 7 hours hrs

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• 315 g plain (all-purpose) flour 2 ½ cups, spooned and levelled
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar 12 g
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 225 g cold unsalted butter 1 cup / 2 sticks, in 1.5 cm / ½ in cubes
• 90–120 ml ice water 6–8 tbsp
• 1.3 kg apples 3 lb, about 7 medium, half tart and half sweet-firm, peeled, cored and sliced 6 mm / ¼ in thick
• 100 g light brown sugar ½ cup, packed
• 50 g granulated sugar ¼ cup
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ tsp fine sea salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice 30 ml
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch) 24 g
• 15 g butter 1 tbsp
• 1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp / 15 ml milk or cream
• 1 tbsp coarse or granulated sugar 12 g

Instructions

 

• Whisk the flour, sugar and salt. Work in the butter until mostly pea-sized with some larger flat pieces. Mix in 90 ml (6 tbsp) ice water, adding more a tablespoon at a time until a squeezed handful holds together.
• Divide into two discs, one slightly larger. Wrap and chill at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.
• Toss the apples with both sugars, spices, salt, lemon juice and vanilla. Leave 1 hour, stirring once or twice.
• Drain, saving the juice. Boil the juice with the butter 5–8 minutes until reduced by about half and syrupy. Toss the apples with the cornflour, then with the syrup.
• Put a heavy baking sheet on the lowest oven shelf and heat to 220°C (425°F).
• Roll the larger disc to 30 cm (12 in) and line the dish. Roll the second to 28 cm (11 in).
• Pack the apples into the base, mounding in the centre. Cover with the top crust, trim to 1.5 cm (½ in), fold under and crimp. Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and cut 4–5 steam slits.
• Bake on the hot sheet 20 minutes. Reduce to 190°C (375°F) and bake 45–55 minutes more, shielding the edges with foil if needed, until deep golden and the juices bubble thickly through the slits.
• Cool on a rack at least 3–4 hours before slicing.

Notes

Good apple pairs: Granny Smith with Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Jonagold, Pink Lady or Golden Delicious.

The filling must bubble before the pie comes out, or the cornflour won’t thicken it.

Freeze unbaked: assemble without egg wash, freeze up to 3 months; bake from frozen 25 minutes at 220°C (425°F) then 50–60 minutes at 190°C (375°F).

Storage: room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days, then fridge 2–3 days more. Rewarm slices at 175°C (350°F) for 10–15 minutes.

Keyword all-butter pie crust, apple pie, apple pie from scratch, double crust pie, fall baking, homemade apple pie, Thanksgiving pie

Photo: Christina Voinova on Pexels