The Classic: Apple Pie {Tutorial}

Yeah, yeah...I hear ya, it has been quite some time since I last shared a recipe much less a tutorial! Well, never fear, you have got one here. I have been on a quest to find the perfect apple pie since, oh I don't know, the year I met my husband! He is a big time apple pie fan and his mom makes a stellar one that he always starts to crave right around the beginning of fall (yes people we do get fall here in Los Angeles). So me being the baker wife, I am always trying to reinvent the wheel, you know how it is! So I get these extravagant recipes and tweak them all sorts of ways to make a gourmet apple pie when you know what...he just wants a classic apple pie! Come on Linzy, just keep it simple and make a classic! I use third person purely for effect, lol! So anyway, my quest is a pretty slow one because I bake one every fall, but then we get our craving filled, I get frustrated because it wasn't what I envisioned and then I'm over it til the next year. So it is a slow quest for the perfect apple pie!
Last year at Christmas, I broke down and asked my mother in law for some help. She gave me her treasured pie crust recipe, which get this...uses vegetable oil? I had never heard of making pie crust with oil! Then she pulled out the ever so familiar red & white checked cook book so many of us know as good ole Betty Crocker! Really, it was that easy! I had Betty laying right under my nose all this time, what the heck was I thinking! So now, I have waited a sufficient 11 months to take another crack at the perfect apple pie...
First off the recipe...
Disclaimer: because I am trying REALLY hard to impress my husband this year with the perfect apple pie, I copied Betty's recipe word for word, therefore I am going to paste it here but I don't want anyone thinking I am plagiarizing, I am just making it more convenient in case you don't have a red and white checked Betty.
Pie Filling: 
{I ended up with about 12 cups of apples therefore the only
modification I did was I multiplied the recipe by 1.5}

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples (8 medium)
• 2 tablespoons butter 

Preheat oven to 425
In large bowl, mix sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir in apples until well mixed. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 inch from rim of plate.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm if desired. 

 peel those babies!

 slice n' dice

 have I ever told you that grating fresh nutmeg is one of my favorite baking tasks?

 these babies are ready for crust!

Now for the...
Crust:

• 2 cups flour
• dash of salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 5 Tbsp cold water

Place flour and salt in medium both, stir together with a fork. Make a well in the flour and pour oil in. With a cutting motion combine the oil and flour until it resembles peas. Then add the cold water over the top and sort of mash it into the dough until it just comes together.
Take half of the dough, form a disk, place disk between two sheets of parchment and roll out until approx 1/8" place this is bottom of your pie pan. Do the same for the remaining dough and save this for the top of your pie.

 parchment paper makes your life way easier

 Now for the final look...

 my favorite pie pan

 lot o' apples, this is where you put the butter on

,

 This is my top crust on the parchment paper, the cool thing about using parchment is that the 

dough sticks to the parchment making it REALLY easy to place your dough on top of 

your apples, then you just peel it off and viola! I even made a video...yeah I'm a dork

Please excuse the music, I was rockin' out apparently!

 Because this pie is for my hubby and he his Ohio State Buckeyes won today, I made this 

pie extra special. I mean who says you can't decorate a pie! Sprinkle the top with sugar.

You know you want a piece! I will keep you posted as to how happy this makes my husband's taste buds, but I am going to give my mother-in-law a big THANK YOU in advance!

Happy baking, happier eating!