I had always been intrigued by Nigella's Double Apple Pie but never got round to making it because the thought of peeling and coring all that apples just did not seem like a very good use of my time. But with my brother recently back home for the vacation, I decided to take advantage of his enthusiasm to finally make this pie.Firstly, I'm not very good at pastries. In fact, I suck at it and had real trouble with this one. I just couldn't get it to roll out properly. I was wondering if it had anything to do with the recipe, but I googled it and found that no one else had my problem. I guess as with all things, practice makes perfect, and I will be practising more. She does make it up in the food processor, as opposed to by hand. Perhaps next time I'll try the traditional method. It could be easier. Anyway, back to the pie.
The recipe calls for two different types of apples, hence the "double" element of the pie (no, it's not referring to the size, though it is a rather big pie, and it's baked in a Springform tin). I can't find Bramleys or Coxes here in Singapore, so I used Granny Smiths (for the green Bramleys) and Fuji apples (for the red Coxes). The green apples were to be mashed, and the red ones were to be chunky.
The shortcrust pastry is slightly different from regular shortcrust patries, in that it uses Cheddar in the mix. It may sound weird, but they actually go so well together. I recall as a little girl, I loved eating cheese with apples - in fact that was the only way my mum could get me to eat cheese.
I really enjoyed the pie. It was a very substantial and sliceable pie. It was great when fresh and hot out of the oven. When it cooled, I thought the pastry was a bit tough (my fault), but the filling was great, especially since the apples were of different sizes and textures. My husband, surprisingly, loved the pastry, but wasn't so keen on the filling because he thought the apples were too chunky. I guess he likes them small a la MacDonald Apple Pie. I would love to make these again, but now that my brother has gone back to school, it might be awhile...
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5 comments:
What's the issue with the pastry? I guess what I found useful was a) keeping pastry cool and b) using flour on rolling pin and rolling surface to remove stickiness. According to my mother (actually according to one of the many cooking shows she watches), you are also supposed to roll away from your body and rotate the pastry regularly.
Hope it works - just passing the tip along!
I got stuck at the part where you add water to make a dough. But I just didn't know how much water to add. I just couldn't get it to roll out properly. It was rather crumbly. So I thought maybe it needed more water. But when I add more water, it gets sticky. So I add more flour....etc. And when I try to rotate it, it starts to tear...then, of course, how do you keep it cool in this kind of weather?
Put in fridge for half an hour before use, minimise handling thereafter. Other tips: roll out on marble surface, use water bottle filled with cold water as rolling pin, etc.
hi! Tried out this recipe and I found out what you meant about the pastry. It was a little crumbly and difficult to manage - it was difficult to lift the large piece up without it breaking. In the end I rolled it out on waxed paper and picked it up, waxed paper and all to put in the pan :-)
And yes, the labour of peeling coring, chopping and cooking the apples was quite considerable...
I'm glad I wasn't the only one with a problem with the pastry! I think it has got to do with the weather...Maybe I should try this again since I have had a little more experience (read: watched a lot more youtube videos and masterchef episodes) since I last baked the pie.
Oh, but it's too hard work peeling, coring and chopping those apples!
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