Apple Slab Pie Recipe – Everyday Dishes (2024)

FAQs

What is the best apple mix for pie? ›

The perfect apples for pie comes down to using a perfectly balanced mix of sweet- and sour-flavored apples that all have a firm (neither soft nor mealy) texture, she contends. "For firm-sweet apples, I like Baldwin, Jonagold, Gravenstein, Pink Lady, Opal, and Jazz," Traveso continues.

The starch and pectin in the filling needs to set. If you add cornstarch or flour to the filling it gels st oven temperatures and sets once it has cooled. The same is true for the natural pectin in many fruits. If you cut the pie before the filling has set, it will never solidify and your pie will be runny.

It's my mom's apple pie recipe, but with a twist. I'm using a cake pan instead of a traditional pie dish. It's the same delicious pie, but it's easier to cut. Plus, slab pies serve approximately 12, and for a traditional pie, you'll be lucky if you get eight pieces.

Peeled apples will give you a delicately soft pie with no tough surprises, but some people argue that you lose the apple's nutritional value once the peel is removed. Making sure you are using the correct apples – peeled or unpeeled – is a more important part of crafting the perfect apple pie.

When thickening a fruit pie filling, there are several options to consider. Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency.

Which one you use is a matter of personal preference. Cornstarch makes for a shiny, glossy filling. A little goes a long way because it has twice the gelling power of flour. Flour thickens nicely but leaves more of a matte finish.

Brush the Bottom with Corn Syrup or Egg White

Coating the inside surface of the bottom crust will create a barrier to prevent sogginess.

Blind Bake

The most common way to ward off a soggy pie crust is by a process called blind baking. Blind baking means you pre-bake the crust (sometimes covered with parchment or foil and weighed down with pie weights to prevent the crust from bubbling up) so that it sets and crisps up before you add any wet filling.

But getting the pie to bake properly in a disposable aluminum pan can be a challenge. Aluminum does not hold heat and bakes slowly. Here are some tips to prevent soggy bottom crusts: For blind baking, increase baking time up to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Most standard pie plates, which are not meant to have the pies removed, will not need greasing.

Do you need to grease pie dish for apple pie? ›

Nope! Most pie crusts are made with a significant amount of fat—typically butter or shortening—which keeps it from sticking to the pan. So skip the spritz of baking spray here, and put the crust right in the pie plate! Speaking of the pie plate, you'll want to use a deep-dish plate for this recipe.

Should I precook apples in a pan or just put raw apples in the oven for Apple crumble? Just remember, the secret to a great apple pie filling is to precook the apples. This will ensure perfect consistency and balanced sweetness. You'll also avoid that gap between the crust and the filling.

After slicing the apple into quarters and removing the core, slice the apples as desired for your pie. You can dice each quarter crosswise for slightly bigger apple chunks, or you can slice the quarters lengthwise for thin apple slices.

Softer apples like Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, or Macintosh break down too much in the heat of the oven, basically turning into applesauce. So avoid those, and opt for a variety that's firm and crisp like Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala, or Honeycrisp. They'll turn velvety soft while still retaining their shape.

For the best pies, crisps, and other baked treats, apples need to be firm enough to hold their own during the cooking process. We call these apples “baking apples” and to namedrop, they include Braeburn, Cortland, Honey Gold, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Haralson, and Newtown Pippin.

For a basic applesauce, use McIntosh and Golden Delicious apples. Golden Delicious is a soft apple variety with a mellow flavor, so it cooks down easily and provides a great foundation for your applesauce. McIntosh apples are slightly tart and crisp, but soften easily, making them a stellar choice for pies and sauces.

Honeycrisp. One of the sweetest apples around, this Midwestern favorite is good for anything—including baking. It boasts a distinctive juicy crispness and is firm enough that it won't cook down much. It complements just about any other apple variety to make a stellar pie.