Here's my first post to the Modern Bakers group and From Modern Baker By Nick Malgieri
an Apple pie , not just an Apple pie , but Maida's Big Apple Pie with Crumble topping ....
an Apple pie , not just an Apple pie , but Maida's Big Apple Pie with 
Ok ok , i had this crumble ready just for this pie in the freezer , and well while baking i took multi tasking a bit too far , and it remained sitting right there , so that for another pie ..
I have baked a pie from Nicks recipe , so this is officially my second pie, that one being an English pie with blackberries, mango and guava.
Whether u wanna slice it thru , or have it whole , love it u sure will....
The rich pie dough is one of the best dough's ever and since there is no sugar in the crust u can work beautifully around the fillings.
Plus sprinkling some home made Vanilla or cinnamon sugar before u pop these in the oven , atop the crust is always fun ....
Since i love hearts being there a plenty in my world , this was so expected of me , wasnt it ?
The filling is absolutely delicious , though i did cut down on the sugar and up the butter a bit.
The brown & vanilla sugar ,along with an extra vanilla bean , 2 types of cinnamon (pics below), and butter make it absolutely delicious.
Moving right back to this pie , an apple pie , i did try some stuff around the recipe , and though not perfectly pretty , it made me happy , deliciously happy.
First of all lets begin with the pastry , a rich pie dough.
I didn't halve the pie dough , as i did the filling (more on the filling later , must tell u that it was rightly enough though).
Its buttery and rich , and doesn't have sugar in ,and this contrast's well with the filling.
oh i have to tell u why Nick loves using baking powder in his pastry....
arent u all ears??? Well it makes an amazing crust even better.....It helps the dough baake through to a light ,tender texture and also eliminates pre baking a crust ...
i love using my new baking powder too.....
1 whole tsp of alluminium free baking powder in this crust[no after taste even if u tip in more:-) ]
Ok in a bit i will get back to the crust , till then lets get to the filling ...
Apples , Oh apples ....3 types of Apples ......
And a lone pear , coz i needed that much and the pear made up for the apple that wasnt there ...
Peeled and all set to cut...
after coring and peeling....
into wedges, 6 per each half
Cinnamon , freshly grated Sri Lankan Cinnamon (oh am sure u can almost whiff it there )&
vietnameese Cinnamon...nice and fragrant...
And Vanilla , always irresistible to me in baking.
All that goes into my large pink pan with Vanilla sugar , brown sugar and Salted butter , yup Salted butter...
And another ingredient , i halved the sugar and added some of this ....for some heightened apple flavour...with a few drops of lime juice.
And THIS apple cider powder....
Cover and simmer for 5mins and then simmer open , till tender and the juices have dried.
Ok back to the dough , i had roughly made 3 divisions of the dough , so all i did was roll a bit and cut out hearts.
Wanted to try if i fold it over , they would still look like hearts...
They didn't but were kinda cute (maybe coz i knew they began as hearts) , but i sure rolled thin and then had a double heart in , instead of re rolling and did some patchwork too.
Had some dough left from all the rolling and re rolling, so little heart cut out were the way to go...
Baked at a nice low temp. the crust gets nice and crumbly with a crispy bite (love) , its buttery and the vanilla sugar sprinkled atop gives it jus the right amount of sweetness needed + goes well with the sweet apple filling.
And if u have some filling left over , all u need to do is bake a crumble the next day ....
With or without ice cream , its one wonderful Apple pie...
RECIPE FOR RICH PIE DOUGH
or 1.5 cups ap flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
10tbh / 1.1/4th stick SALTED butter
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1. COmbine all the dry ingredients in a bowl , add cut butter and bring together with a pastry cutter (of course u can do this in a food processor too).
Add egg and yolk and bring it all together to form a ball.
2. Using ur hands either press the dough into 1 large disc or 2 or 3 , as u want the pies.
Refrigerate till needed.
APPLE PIE FILLING
NOTES
~~~i halved the recipe , except the butter , but still had some filling left.
~~~i always use salted butter , and it works well for me.
~~~ Any flavour additions are welcome , am sure i would love this with lavender or Saffron too.
~~~decreased the sugar and it was just right, coz i added 2 packs of alpine apple cider powder
~~~the next time round i will NOT forget to sprinkle some crumble and maybe my fav chocolate chips atop.
1 kg of 3 different types of apples (+ a pear) peeled ,cored and each half cut into 6 wedges
1/4 cup vanilla sugar
1.5 tbh of light brown muscavado sugar
4 to 5 tbh salted butter
a whole vanilla bean
lods of cinnamon
a squeeze or 2 of lime/lemon juice
a pack or 2 of Alpine apple cider drink powder
Vanilla/cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on pie before baking
1. Add all the ingredients , except the sprinkling sugar in a pan and cook over medium heat , covered for around 7 mins.
Uncover and continue cooking till some apples are quite tender and the liquid in nice and very thick.
Cool.
(ok first serve ur self some and enjoy...this is a MUST coz its so so good whether or not ur on the Dukan diet , and i think the D diet is quite forgiving so chill )
2. Preheat oven to the lowest temp (middle rack) before u get to rolling the pie dough to the desired size.
3.Spoon the filling in the centre leaving atleast 2 inches space on all sides to fold in the pie dough all around the edges.
If ur in the mood , save some dough for cut outs to decorate the top , else rustic is the way to go.
4. Brush the tops with egg wash , sprinkle with sugar and bake the pie till the filling is bubbling and the pie golden (around 45 mins or so ).
Slice and serve or jus bite straight into it coz i know u'll simply not be able to wait.
