earthy · toasty · spicy: Apple Pie with Whole Wheat Butter Crust

I recently had the BEST pie crust I have ever tasted: it’s buttery, it’s flaky, it’s crisp, it’s perfect…. It makes me want to make more and more pies!!

Every pie crust recipe I read says that the key to flaky crust is to keep the butter and water cold, including an approximate one hour chill time after the dough’s been formed. However, I am not the most patient cook and I don’t want to chill the dough for an hour. This is my “quick” pie crust recipe, and it’ll give you a delicious, flaky, buttery crust that will have you running back for more. Best part is, it’s easy to make, and doesn’t require extra chilling time. This pie is best if eaten within 24 hours of cooling.

Recipe for the Crust

Makes a bottom and a top crust for one pie

2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of cold, real, unsalted butter

1 cup of ice cold water

Recipe for Filling

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

5 large apples, chopped (about 6 cups)

1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions for the Crust and Pie Filling

(1) Put a bowl of water into the freezer. Stir the flour and salt together. Dice the butter and incorporate the butter and flour together so that it looks like sandy/pebble-y crumbs. I use my hands! Get in there! Don’t worry about not keeping it freezing cold, I promise, you’ll be fine. Once the flour/salt/butter is the right texture (see below), put the bowl in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

Sticks of butter, right before the final dice. I actually looked at this and thought… “f*ck yeah.”

“Sandy/pebble-y crumbs”

(2) Peel and core the apples. Chop them into 8 wedges, and then chop each wedge into 4 pieces. Once you have six-ish cups of chopped apples, mix in the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. Set aside to let the fruit marinate. Now, preheat the oven to 425°.

(3) Take the ice water and crust mixture out of the freezer. Sprinkle a tablespoon of ice water into the mixture and use your hand or a spatula to start folding the mixture into itself. Keep adding water until the entire mixture is sticking together (I use between 5-10 tablespoons).

(4) Flour your surface, divide the mixture in half, and roll out the dough for the bottom crust. The dough is large enough when it’s about 1.5 inches larger than your pie pan. Once the bottom crust is in the pan, remove extra dough from the outside of the pan with a knife. Then roll out the top dough. Add the apples to the pie pan and cover with the top dough. Use the flat part of a fork to cinch down the sides of the pie, and then remove excess dough with a knife.

Now, my dough never comes out in a perfect circle, but there’s a “quick and dirty” way to get it perfect. My mom taught me to just cut off weird edges and roll them into the spaces that are needed. To easily transport the dough to the pan, I recommend rolling it out over parchment and then flipping the parchment over the pan, dough side down. With all-purpose flour crusts, you can fold the crust into quarters, but the whole wheat crust doesn’t seem to like that and rips. My first crust actually ripped almost entirely in half when I folded it, and I had to do some fixing.

I also like to use the extra dough to cut out shapes for decorating the pie. Or, I shape them into little cookies and put them in the oven 15 minutes before the pie is done. They’re so good by themselves, or with peanut butter, or preserves.

Ha… you can actually see my wine bottle/rolling pin in the corner. Wine bottles work great as rolling pins.

(5) This crust is flaky and crisp at the same time, so I suggest cutting vents into it along the shape of the pieces you want. Otherwise, the crust will break up when you cut it. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes, then lower the heat to 375° for 30 minutes. Allow it to cool for a few (2-4) hours.