Deep Dish Apple Pie from Scratch

4.94 from 15 votes

Deep Dish Apple Pie from Scratch

This deep dish, mile high apple pie is jam-packed full of sweet and tart apple slices in a spiced brown sugar filling, nestled in a super-flaky deep dish butter and leaf-lard pie crust that makes for the best traditional apple pie you'll ever have.

Prep Time35

Cook Time1 30

Rest/Cooling Time3 25

Total Time5 30

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: German

Servings: -10 servings

Calories: 544kcal

Author: Eden Westbrook

Equipment

Ingredients

Butter + Lard Crust

2 ½ cups 350 g all-purpose flour, + more for work surface
1 ¼ teaspoon 10 g kosher salt
8 tablespoon unsalted butter 112 g, chilled and cubed
½ cup 105 g leaf-lard or vegetable shortening, chilled
7 tbsp-½ cup 104 to 120mL ice water

Filling

4 tablespoon 57 g unsalted butter
½ cup 96 g granulated sugar
½ cup 96 g brown sugar
1 teaspoon 5 mL vanilla extract
2 teaspoon 7 g cinnamon, ground
¼ teaspoon 1 g nutmeg, ground
½ teaspoon 2 g ginger, ground
½ teaspoon cardamom ground
1 teaspoon 4 g lemon zest
1 tablespoon 15 mL lemon juice
3 tablespoon 23 g all-purpose flour
5 lbs apples peeled, chopped into ¼ inch slices
2 tablespoon 15 g cornstarch
2 tablespoon 30 mL apple cider*

Baking

1 large egg
1 tablespoon 15 mL cream or milk
2 tablespoon 24 g turbinado sugar

Instructions

Make the Crust

In a large bowl or food processor, whisk together kosher salt and all-purpose flour. Add the eight tablespoons of butter and the leaf-lard or shortening.
With a pastry cutter or the food processor on 'pulse', cut the fats and flour together until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Most of the fat should be the size of sweet peas or beans, and larger sized bits of fat are encouraged.
Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, pour one tablespoon of ice water at a time in and stir with a large rubber spatula or spoon. Stir after each addition of water. Stop adding water when the dough begins to clump together.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. It should be slightly, slightly tacky and come together easily. Form the dough into a ball, then divide it into two halves. Flatten each half into 1 inch thick discs. Wrap each dough disc tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour (but they can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days).

Make the Apple Pie Filling

In a large pot over medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Stir in both sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, lemon zest and juice, and flour. Add apples and toss with a wooden spoon.
Cover pot and cook the apples, stirring occasionally, making sure the sugar doesn't burn and the liquid is bubbling. The apples should begin to soften in 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and apple cider. Pour into the apple mixture and turn the temperature to low. Let cook for another 5 minutes, or until apples have softened and become a little tender.
Let apple filling cool for one hour to overnight before assembling apple pie.

To Assemble

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C; gas mark 5).
Remove one pie crust disk from the fridge, unwrap it, and place it on a work surface. Roll out the disk from the center outward, lifting crust slightly and rotating it 90 degrees after every few rolls. Lift and dust underside with flour every so often to prevent the pie crust from sticking. Roll dough out to be about 11 to 12 inches, and about ⅛" thick.
With your rolling pin, roll pie crust off the work surface to loosely wrap around the pin and carefully it roll out into the pie dish. Trim the edges to ½ inch beyond the lip of your pie dish, then turn the edge under to create the rim. Press the rim against the pan to form an even edge. Use scraps to fill in any tears, thin spots, or holes in the pie crust. Refrigerate the pie crust for 15 minutes to chill the fats.
Remove the crust from the fridge and cover the crust with a large piece of parchment paper. Fill the parchment paper with dried beans or pie weights, then cover the edges with strips of aluminum foil to prevent browning. Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the parchment paper and pie weights and bake for 15 more minutes. This is pre-baking the crust so it won't be soggy once your apple pie is fully baked. Let it cool for 10-15 minutes.
Raise oven temperature to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C; gas mark 7).
While baked crust is cooling, roll out the second pie crust on a floured work surface.
Add the apple filling to the pie dish, making sure to compact the apples into the crust in the pie dish, as air pockets will cause a gap in between the apples and the top crust. Place the rolled out second crust over the top, then crimp the edges with your fingers to seal the top crust to the bottom.
Whisk the egg and cream together in a small bowl, then brush that egg wash over the crust. Sprinkle raw sugar over the crust as well. Using a sharp knife, cut some slits into the top crust to give the steam a place to escape. Disregard if you are doing a pattern.
Place pie on a baking sheet to ensure any bubbling filling doesn't burn onto your oven, then put in the oven on the middle shelf. Bake the pie for 15 minutes and check to see if the edges are browning faster than the rest of the crust. If so cover the edges with a crust protector or carefully cover the edges with a strip of aluminum foil.
Reduce heat back to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C; gas mark 5) and continue to bake for 40 minutes. The top should be golden brown and the filling bubbly.
Let apple pie cool completely (2-3 hours) before serving to let the filling set up. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Notes

*If you don't have apple cider, apple juice or even water works well for its purpose.

Serving, Storing, and More

For that picture-perfect slice, you'll need your deep dish pie to cool for at least 2 hours, or until the entire pie is room temperature.

Apple pie can stay out on the counter top at room temperature for up to 2 days, make sure to cover it loosely with plastic wrap or aluminum foil so the crust doesn't get soggy. Past that, it can stay in the fridge for another 3 days.

To freeze, wrap pie tightly with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place in heavy-duty freezer bag. Use the pie within 3-4 months of freezing for best quality.

Defrost the apple pie in the refrigerator and then reheat in a 350 degrees F oven until warm (about 10-15 minutes).

To freeze unbaked apple pie, wrap the assembled pie in plastic wrap, with as much air pressed out as possible. Wrap the pie in aluminum foil and freeze up to one month.
To bake frozen, raw pie, remove it from the freezer, unwrap the foil and plastic wrap, and place it into the oven. Bake as directed, adding on about 15 minutes to the baking time, or until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling.
To freeze a baked pie, wrap and freeze the pie as above.
When ready to serve, unwrap and let the pie thaw at room temperature. Warm it up in a 350 degree F oven for about 15 minutes to crisp up the top and warm the filling.

Nutrition