Easy Apple Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should apples be cooked before making pie? ›

Baking the apple slices first. It's the magic key to a crispy base, superior flavour and perfectly-cooked-and-never-mushy filling. It's also how you get a generous amount of pie filling without the dreaded giant empty cavity under the lid.

Crust dust is a 1:1 mixture of flour and granulated sugar. When baking a pie, especially a fruit pie, a couple of teaspoons of crust dust sprinkled into the bottom of the crust will help prevent the crust from becoming saturated with juicy filling as it bakes.

How do you make apple pie so the bottom crust isn't soggy? You don't have to pre-bake the bottom pie crust for this pie. There's simply no need to take this extra step because the apple pie bakes for a really long time in the oven. If your pies have soggy crusts, you may not be baking them long enough.

When apples are cooked, this pectin breaks down, and the apples turn mushy. However, there are ways to control this pectin breakdown, helping you to ensure that your apple slices are tender, but still hold their shape in the pie. The easiest first step is to pick the right apple.

Make some good holes in the crust to let steam escape, and you might as well make a design! You can do these with a fork, or cut designs with a knife. You can also lay on extra dough cut into shapes for more styling.

Line the crust with foil, parchment, or a paper coffee filter. Fill it about two-thirds full with dried beans, uncooked rice (or other uncooked grain berries), pie weights, or granulated sugar. Bake the crust in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes, set on a baking stone or steel if you have one.

Choose the Right Rack in the Oven

Which rack you use in the oven can help ensure a crisp crust. Baking the pie on a lower rack will concentrate heat on the bottom of the pie and help the crust crisp.

The key word is “mix.” Instead of selecting one variety of apple, it's best to opt for a few, which will give the filling a more balanced and nuanced flavor. You'll want some sweet and some tart, and most should be firm enough to hold their shape when baked. No one wants a mushy pie!

So you can put away your Granny Smiths and Red Delicious if you think you can just whip up McDonald's signature dessert at home. Instead, Mickey D's makes their pies with six different types of apples — Jonagold, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Gala, Rome, and Ida Red, all of which are homegrown in the U.S.

How many apples to a pie? ›

It's hard to know exactly how many apples you'll need for an apple pie, but for one 9-inch pie, you probably won't need more than 10 apples. If your apples are smaller, you'll probably need 10; if they're really big apples, you'll use fewer of them.

Just place your cut-up apple in a simple bowl of cold water to prevent the flesh of the apple from becoming exposed to oxygen. This method is great if you simply want to keep the apples white while you prep your other ingredients (like say, for homemade apple pie).

Why you should cook your fruit filling first. The two recurring issues with pie recipes that use a raw fruit filling are a soggy lower crust and the formation of a giant air pocket between the fruit and the upper crust.

If you use proper cooking apples like Bramleys, the only one to use, then the slices of apple will remain whole & not go mushy after stewing. The only time I will use uncooked apple is when making a Tarte-Tatin but even then the apples are caramalised in butter & brown sugar before the pastry goes on.

The brown apples and the fresh apples baked up equally tender and juicy and were similar in flavor, and—surprisingly—all had pretty much the same light golden color.