truly scrumptious apple pie

Desserts

Truly Scrumptious Apple Pie

This pie is inspired by the recipe Delicious Apple Pie from the Blue Ribbon Pies cookbook, published by Consumers Union, edited by Maria Polushkin Robbins - my all-time favorite pie recipe. I read about the apple layering technique in The Flavor Bible, so every bite of this pie has different textures and flavors of apples. My pie dough is adapted from the recipe for Flaky Pie Dough in the cookbook Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. You'll have enough dough for 2 pies. And one of my favorite movies is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, hence the title.

Ingredients

630 grams unbleached all-purpose flour (i use king arthur; about 5 cups)
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
11 ounces very cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
6 ounces very cold vegetable shortening, cut into chunks
about 1/2 cup ice water
2 chilled pie dough disks, or 1 unbaked 9" pie shell with top crust
3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for decorating, if desired
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
2 cups golden delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
2 cups macintosh apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
3 wedges of fresh lemon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cream or milk

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place flour and salt and blend on low speed.
Add the butter and mix on low speed until the flour looks crumbly.
Add the chunks of shortening and continue to mix on low speed. When clumps begin forming, and the dough holds together when you press some between your fingers, slowly pour the water in while the mixer is on low speed. Mix just until incorporated.
Flour a work area and turn the dough out. Gather it into a ball. Cut it into 4 equal parts. Weigh them out to get even pieces, if you have a kitchen scale.
Gently form each piece into a flat round disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least two hours. Dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 5 days, or frozen for one month. Store in zipper freezer bags.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Mix together the dry ingredients.
Place Granny Smith apple slices in bowl, squeeze a wedge of lemon juice over and toss. In another bowl, place Golden Delicious apples, lemon juice and toss. And in a third bowl, place Macintosh, lemon juice and toss. Evenly distribute sugar mixture over apples in three separate bowls. Mix.
If making the dough yourself, roll out one round of dough on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 11 inches across. Place crust into a 9-inch pie pan with 1-inch high sides.
Roll another round of dough into a circle about 10 inches across.
With a knife or scissors, cut excess dough from bottom layer, keeping about a ½ inch overhang. Set aside scraps.
Starting with the Granny Smith slices, place them in one layer into the bottom crust. Next, layer the Golden Delicious slices over. And lastly, layer the Macintosh slices over. Dot with butter.
Cover with top crust. Tuck overhang of top crust under the bottom crust edge. Flute edges with fingers, or however you like. Vent top.
Gather any leftover dough scraps, flatten out dough and cut out a few leaf shapes with a knife. With the point of a knife, gently make vein indentations like on a real leaf.
Brush top crust with cream. Gently press on leaves and brush them with cream. Sprinkle sugar over the whole pie, if desired. Place pie on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until juices bubble through vents. Check the pie after 20 minutes, and if you see the edges burning, take two long strips of aluminum foil and wrap edges of pie loosely.
Let the pie cool on a rack for about a half an hour before cutting into it.