Bramley Apple Pie

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •23cm pie dish, ceramic or enamel
• •Rolling pin
• •Heavy baking tray
• •Pastry brush
• •Apple corer (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pastry

   Tip the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and lard and rub them in with your fingertips, lifting your hands to let air in, until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs with some larger flecks of fat still visible. Those flecks are what give you flake. Stir in the tablespoon of sugar. Mix the yolk with three tablespoons of cold water and add to the bowl, bringing it together with a knife and then your hands until it just forms a dough. Add the last spoonful of water only if it needs it. Stop the moment it comes together.

   Cold hands, cold fat, cold water. Pastry hates a warm kitchen. If yours is hot, chill the bowl for ten minutes before you start.
2. 2

   Rest the dough

   Divide the dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Pat each into a flat disc, wrap in cling film or beeswax wrap, and rest in the fridge for at least thirty minutes. This is not optional. Resting lets the gluten relax and the fat firm up, and it's the difference between a tender crust and a tough one.

3. 3

   Prepare the apples

   Peel, core, and slice the Bramleys into thick wedges, about a centimetre across. Don't go thinner. Bramleys collapse fast and you want some of them to hold their shape against the puree. Toss them in a bowl with the sugar, the spoonful of flour, the cinnamon if you're using it, the nutmeg, and the lemon zest. Taste a slice. If your apples are particularly sharp, add another spoonful of sugar. Bramleys vary, and so should you.

   The flour or cornflour soaks up the juices the apples will throw out as they cook. Without it you get a soggy bottom. Don't skip it.
4. 4

   Roll out the base

   Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan and put a heavy baking tray on the middle shelf to heat up. Lightly flour the worktop and roll out the larger disc of pastry into a circle big enough to line a 23cm pie dish with a little overhang. Lift it with the rolling pin and lay it gently into the dish, easing it into the corners without stretching. Stretched pastry shrinks back in the oven and you'll regret it.

5. 5

   Fill the pie

   Tip the apples into the pastry-lined dish, mounding them up generously in the middle. They'll cook down considerably, so be brave with the height. Dot the small pieces of butter over the top of the apples.

6. 6

   Top and seal

   Roll out the second disc of pastry into a circle slightly larger than the dish. Brush the rim of the bottom crust with beaten egg, then lay the lid over the apples. Press the edges together firmly with your fingers or the tines of a fork to seal. Trim the overhang with a knife, leaving a small lip. Cut two or three short slashes in the centre of the lid for steam to escape.

7. 7

   Glaze and bake

   Brush the whole top with beaten egg and scatter generously with sugar. Demerara if you have it, for a bit of crunch. Slide the pie onto the hot baking tray in the oven and bake for forty-five to fifty minutes. You're looking for a deep golden top, juices bubbling thickly through the slashes, and the smell of caramelizing apples filling the kitchen. Trust your nose. It knows before you do.

   If the top is browning too quickly before the apples have fully softened, lay a piece of foil loosely over the pie for the last fifteen minutes.
8. 8

   Rest before serving

   Let the pie rest for at least twenty minutes before cutting into it. The filling needs time to settle, and a hot Bramley pie cut too soon will run all over the plate. Serve in generous wedges with custard, a pour of double cream, or a thick wedge of sharp Cheddar. All three are correct. Pick your evening.

Chef Tips

• •Bramleys are the only apple for this pie. Eaters like Coxes or Braeburns hold their shape too stubbornly and never give you that fluffy, almost foaming texture in the middle. If you can't find Bramleys, a cooking apple of any kind will do better than a dessert apple. The whole point is the collapse.
• •Half butter, half lard makes the best shortcrust by a long way. Butter brings flavour, lard brings flake. If you're avoiding lard, replace it with cold butter, but know that the texture will be slightly different. A small amount of vegetable shortening works too.
• •Put the pie on a preheated baking tray. This is the simplest trick for avoiding a soggy bottom. The hot tray gives the base of the pastry an immediate burst of heat and sets it before the juices have a chance to seep in.
• •Bramleys vary wildly in sharpness depending on their size and how long they've been stored. Always taste a slice raw with the sugar before you fill the pie. You're the cook. Trust your tongue.
• •Serve with whatever feels right. Proper Bird's custard from a tin is honest and good. Homemade vanilla custard is splendid if you've got the patience. Cold double cream from a jug needs nothing said in its defence. And the wedge of Cheddar, if you've never tried it, is a small revelation.

Advance Preparation

• •The pastry can be made up to two days ahead and kept wrapped in the fridge. Bring it back to a workable temperature for ten minutes on the counter before rolling.
• •The pastry also freezes well for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge.
• •The whole pie can be assembled a few hours ahead and kept in the fridge before baking. Brush with the egg wash just before it goes in the oven.
• •Leftover pie keeps for two days at room temperature under a cloth, or three in the fridge. A slice gently warmed in a low oven the next day is one of life's quieter pleasures.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 180g)