Bon Appetit Desserts (61 page)

DO AHEAD:
Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Let soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

Roll out dough disk on floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter deep-dish glass pie dish. Fold edges under and crimp, forming crust sides 14 inch above rim of pie dish. Freeze crust 20 minutes.

FILLING:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Mix brown sugar, flour, lemon peel, and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apple slices, raisins, and vanilla; toss until well coated. Transfer filling to unbaked crust, mounding slightly in center. Bake pie until apples begin to soften, about 40 minutes.

CRUMB TOPPING:
Meanwhile, whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture begins to clump together.

Sprinkle topping evenly over hot pie. Continue to bake pie until apples are tender and topping is browned and crisp, tenting pie with sheet of foil if browning too quickly, about 50 minutes. Cool pie on rack at least 2 hours.

DO AHEAD:
Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Cut pie into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

A tender, flaky pie crust is a thing of beauty—and it is within the reach of every home cook. Just remember that baking is a science, so it’s important to measure carefully and follow the recipe exactly. Follow these tips from the
Bon Appétit
test kitchen and you’ll be a pie-crust pro in no time.

1
STAY COOL:
Chilled or—even better—frozen fat (butter, shortening, and/or lard) will create a dough that’s easy to work with and will produce a flaky, tender crust; room-temperature fat won’t. Using ice water is an important part of the process because the chilled water helps keep the fat cold.

2
LESS IS MORE:
For a perfectly tender crust, you want short, weak strands of gluten (a protein that’s in flour). The more you work the dough, the longer those strands of gluten become, and that can make the dough tough. The bottom line? Mix the dough just until it comes together, then stop.

3
CHILL THE DOUGH:
Don’t rush it. After you’ve made your dough, wrap it in plastic wrap, flatten it into a disk, and chill it for at least the minimum time recommended in the recipe. This will give the gluten a chance to relax, which will make the dough easier to roll out. It’s also not a bad idea to put the rolled-out crust (once it’s in the pan) in the freezer while you prepare the pie filling; that will keep the crust from shrinking while it bakes and will also ensure the fat stays cold.

4
ROLL THE DOUGH:
Give it space. Before you even get the dough out of the fridge, make sure you have a large, clean space for rolling. Lightly flour your work surface to prevent the dough from sticking—and flour your rolling pin, too. Roll out the dough gently, rotating the dough occasionally to create an even circle [1,2]. If the dough begins to stick, sprinkle the work surface and/or the rolling pin with a little more flour. Make sure that the dough round is two to four inches larger in circumference than your pie plate. The extra dough will allow you to create a decorative edge on your pie. To transfer the dough to the pie pan, wrap the dough loosely around the rolling pin, then carefully unroll it into the pan. Ease the dough into the edges of the pan [3], being careful not to stretch the dough to the corners (which will cause the crust to shrink as it bakes). Lightly press the dough onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

5
A DIFFERENT WAY TO ROLL:
Temperamental dough? Brand new to baking? Consider rolling out the dough between two large sheets of parchment paper. Lightly flour one sheet of parchment. Unwrap the chilled dough disk, set it in the center of the parchment, then pound it with the rolling pin until it’s about six inches in diameter. Lightly dust the dough with flour and lay the second piece of parchment on top. Starting at the center and rolling out to the edges, roll the dough using even pressure. To keep the thickness of the dough uniform, turn the parchment 90 degrees and flip the parchment and dough over after every few rolls. When you have a dough round that’s two to four inches larger than your pan, remove the top sheet of parchment. Pick up the remaining parchment and dough and quickly flip the round into the pie pan. Center the dough in the pan and tear off the parchment in strips (peeling it off in one piece may tear the tender dough).

6
CRIMP THE EDGE:
Finish your pie crust with a pretty design around the edge. Fold the extra dough under to make it even with the rim of the pan. For a classic crimp, pinch the crust with your thumb and index finger on one side and your other index finger on the other side [4]. For an easier crust, press the crust with the back of a spoon, the tines of a fork, or a chopstick.

7
EXTRA CREDIT:
The ultimate show-off crust? The beautiful, interwoven strips of dough known as lattice. For a classic lattice top, cut strips from the dough round (the quantity and width of the strips will be specified in the recipe). Evenly space half of the strips atop the filling. To weave the dough, fold every other strip in half over itself. Place a new strip of dough perpendicular to the folded strips [5]. Return the folded strips to the edge of the pie, laying them over the perpendicular strip. Repeat the process, alternating the remaining strips of dough as you go.

8
CHEAT SHEET:
If you want all of the glory of a lattice crust with a fraction of the work, do a quick and easy overlay technique. Arrange half of the dough strips across your filled pie. Top with the remaining strips perpendicular or diagonal to the first.

Golden Raisin and Apple Lattice Pie

Golden Delicious apples become tender yet still retain their shape and pleasant firmness after baking. The apple slices are baked in the oven prior to filling the crust for the pie. To keep the lattice strips intact, roll and cut the dough on a piece of floured parchment paper, then gently slide the strips from the parchment onto the pie to assemble the lattice crust.
8 servings

1½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

½ cup cake flour

1 tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

3 tablespoons chilled non-hydrogenated solid vegetable shortening, cut into ½-inch pieces

6 tablespoons (or more) ice water

3 ¼ pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, quartered, cored, each quarter cut crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices

3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup golden raisins

2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar