Phew, it’s been a minute! Some things have happened since I last posted. I finished the 52-pie challenge, though I failed pretty miserably at the blogging part. I did take photographic evidence, which I’ll be posting here soon. I finished my dissertation and PhD in musicology. We acquired a new pie taster. So, you know, small stuff. No big deal.

Samuel Norris, the best pie taster in all the land.

Now I’m neck deep in prospective publications and applications for college-level teaching positions [more familiarly known as Humble Pie 101], and I realized this past week that I’ve been working harder than is good for me lately. Time for some real self care. Time for some pie.

Classic Apple Pie
Adapted slightly from The New Best Recipe

1 recipe pie dough (for a double crust)
1/4 cup flour, plus additional for rolling out pie dough
8 cups Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, and diced  (for me, this was 8-9 apples)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I like to grate mine fresh)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons of water for egg wash
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle flour over your work surface and roll half of the pie dough into a circle approximately 11 inches in diameter. Place in a greased 9-inch pie pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine apple pieces, flour, lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Stir with a large spoon until mixed evenly. Pour  mixture into bottom pie crust, mounding toward the center so that it looks like a small mountain of deliciousness.
3. Roll out the remaining pie crust on a floured surface and apply as desired. I chose a wide lattice pattern (there’s a good video tutorial here), but any design will work as long as you 1) baste the edges of the bottom crust with water to ensure a tight seal in places it connects with the upper crust and 2) ensure that there is some way for the pie to vent steam while it bakes. Crimp the pie edges as desired.
4. Place the pie on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (The parchment paper is optional, but it makes for easy clean-up if/when the pie bubbles over in the oven.) Place the pie-laden baking sheet in the oven and lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees. After 25 minutes, rotate your pie if it is browning more on one side than the other. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees, and continue to bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the crust is toasty brown and the filling is bubbling. (The New Best Recipe recommends 30-35 minutes for the later portion of the bake, but we found that our pie needed closer to 45 minutes and would not have suffered from even longer in the oven.)
5. For best slicing, cool to room temperature before serving.