How to Bake an Apple Pie from Scratch

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 3/4 of a stick of butter-flavored cricso
• 5 tablespoons of cold water.
• 1/3 cup of white sugar
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• cinnamon
• milk
• 6 medium-sized apples

Steps

1. Pre-heat oven to 400ºF.
2. Begin by gathering all the necessary ingredients for the dough: 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 3/4 of a stick of butter-flavored Crisco, and five tablespoons of cold water. You can substitute lard for the Crisco if you can find it.
3. Gather the ingredients for the filling: 1/3 cup of white sugar, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of flour, cinnamon to be shaken over, a small bowl of milk for sprinkling over, and finally 6 medium Macintosh or granny smith apples. Make sure you have a clean, spacious countertop available for kneading and rolling out the dough.
4. Place the flour, salt, and butter flavored crisco in one of the large bowls. With the pastry blender or fork, smash up the crisco until it forms tiny balls with the flour. Then slowly add the water and knead with floured hands until a large dough ball forms. Split the ball in half and set one of the pieces aside
5. On a floured counter-top, begin to roll the dough out into a circle shape about 2 inches larger in diameter than the pie pan.
6. Slowly lift the flattened dough off the counter-top and place it inside of the pan, pressing against all the sides. Now it is time to move on to the apple filling. With an apple peeler or knife slice the apples into pieces about 1/8 of an inch thick. Put the pieces into the other large bowl. Next, combine the sugars (white and brown), salt, lemon juice, flour, and cinnamon (shake over to cover the top of mixture). Stir with the wooden spoon.
7. Pour this bowl into the pie pan. It's time to work on the top of the crust. Take the ball of dough that was sitting aside and roll it out the same way as the first ball. Before placing it on top of the pie, gently fold in half and make 4 to 5 half inch long slices along the fold and 4 slices in the center of the folded piece. These will allow the filling to breath and not break through the sides. Now unfold the top crust and lay over the pie.
8. Take the butter knife and cut off the excess edges leaving about 1/4 of extra dough over the pie pan. It is now time to seal the pie. To do this, take both thumbs facing each other and place them over the edge to be sealed. Push thumbs down and towards each other. Do this around the entire pie. Sprinkle the milk over the top. This will help to brown the crust.
9. Final step is to dust cinnamon and sugar over the milk for an extra touch.
10. Bake at 400ºF for 15 minutes.
11. Turn down the oven to 375ºF for 45 minutes.
12. Allow pie to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour before serving.

Tips

• When kneading dough, make sure hands are thoroughly floured because this will cause the mixture to become less sticky and roll out better.
• Place foil at the bottom of the oven below the pie. The filling often seeps out during baking, and the foil will aid in keeping your oven from getting messy.
• You can make the pie with six of the same kind of apples, but it will taste better if you use, say two each of three different kind of apples.
• For best results, chill Crisco or lard before adding to flour.

Warnings

• Be sure to watch how fast your oven heats, as all ovens are slightly different. If you feel it is quicker than most, begin checking the pie 10 minutes before the full hour is actually up. You probably will not need the entire baking time to make your pie.

Things You'll Need

• 2 large bowls
• 1 pie pan
• measuring cups
• measuring spoons
• pastry blender or fork
• apple peeler or knife
• rolling pin
• butter knife