Apple Pie

Side note: The less you work the pie dough the better the pie crust will be!

Pie Crust Instructions:
1 cup frozen unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cold water

Grate the butter with a cheese grater.
Dump the flour, sugar, and salt into a large bowl.
Mix for a second or two to blend the dry ingredients.
Add the butter and then, using a pastry cutter work the mixture until it's crumbly and the largest pieces of butter are no bigger than a pea.

(The butter should remain cold and firm. To test it, pick up some butter and pinch it between the thumbs and forefingers of both hands to form a little cube. If the butter holds together as a cube and your fingers are not greasy, then the butter is still cold enough. If your fingers look greasy, put the bowl in the refrigerator for 15 min. to firm up the butter before adding the water.)

Tossing with a fork, sprinkle the cold water evenly. Work the dough until it just pulls together as a shaggy mass.

Roll out the dough for a double-crust pie - cut the dough in half and pat each piece into a thick flattened ball. Lightly flour your work surface and tap one of the dough balls down with four or five taps of the rolling pan. Begin rolling from the center of your dough outward. Stop the pressure 1/4 inch from the edge of the dough. Lift the dough and turn by a quarter and repeat the rolling until the dough is at least 12 inches in diameter. Be sure to re-flour the work surface if your dough is sticking.

Pie Filling:
6-8 apples thinly sliced (you need about 6 cups of apple slices)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
Sprinkle of nutmeg
Sprinkle of salt

Dump apples into large bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice.
Sprinkle all other ingredients over apples and toss to coat (the longer you toss the better coverage).
Put bottom crust in the pie pan, fill with apple mixture, top with 2nd crust and pinch together.

Preheat oven to 425. Bake 15-20 minutes, pull pie out and wrap edge of crust in aluminum foil (to prevent burning). Return to oven and back for 20-25 minutes more. I just stick a knife into the crust and poke an apple to see if it feels done.

Always let an apple pie sit for at least 30 minutes when you pull it out of the oven, it lets the juices set and thicken.