Monday, October 22, 2012

Apple Pie




I love pie but have always struggled with making a great crust, even when I wasn't vegan.  My mom always has great luck with her crusts, so I asked for pointers. It was hard for her to trouble shoot until she came to my house and we made a pie one day. I used her traditional crust recipe with my whole wheat pastry flour and it wouldn't roll out without cracking.  This is something I was used to seeing so it wasn't as frustrating for me.  Then she said something offhand about maybe its the whole wheat flour and that made sense.  It is more dense and dry.  With this information, I made another attempt at a crust. This time I would split the flours (I will not give in completely to white flour!) And the results were amazing.  I got a crust that rolled out with no problems without having to completely give up on whole grain goodness.

Crust

1 1/4 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 1/4 C Unbleached White Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 C Earth Balance (chilled)
1/2 C Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening (chilled)
1/2 C Ice Water

Combine flours and salt. Cut in butter and shortening until crumbs form.  Add in ice water and stir with fork until it forms a ball.  Cut in half and wrap individual pieces in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Apple Pie Filling

7-8 Apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
2/3 C Organic Cane Sugar
2 Tbs Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Cloves
dash salt


Preheat oven 425. Combine all ingredients in large bowl and stir.  Remove crusts from refrigerator only when you are ready to immediately roll them out.  Roll out bottom crust and place in pie plate. Add filling and dot with Earth Balance (optional)  Roll out top crust, lay on top of pie and seal.  Cut in small vents.  Now take a splash of dairy free milk (I used soy) and add it to a small sauce pan with 1 Tbs sugar and heat until sugar dissolves.  Brush the top of the pie with this mixture and bake 15 minutes at 425, then turn down to 350 for 45 minutes.



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