Apple Pie With Oatmeal Shortcrust
What's great about it
The secret to this recipe is to firstly use sweet delicious apples – my favourites are golden delicious apples which are naturally sweet and just seduce you into cooking with them. I don’t peel the apples so that the filling looks rustic and wholesome, plus it adds another dimension of texture and flavour. The spelt shortcrust is one of my favourites and I love the richness of the pastry that gives a decadent mouthfeel when eating your pie. I love the pure ritual of making the dough - making pasty is extremely therapeutic and if you make it by hand you naturally feel the dough come into it's creation.
Ingredients
Makes 12 servings
Apple filling
10 sweet apples (golden delicious are awesome or use other red sweet apple variety – with skin on)
½ cup fresh apple juice or orange juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste
2 tablespoon organic maple syrup or raw honey to sweeten
Spelt + Oatmeal Shortcrust (see notes)
300 g wholemeal spelt flour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup raw fine sugar (optional)
200 g cold unsalted butter, diced
3 - 4 tablespoons cold water or cream to mix
½ - 1 organic cup rolled oats for rolling
Method
Apple filling
- Quarter the apples and remove their cores.
- Cut each quarter in half and place them into a large pot.
- Add the apple or orange juice, and vanilla.
- Place onto the stove over a low - medium heat.
- Cook, stirring every now and again until the apples start to soften and collapse. This should take about 15–20 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and drain any liquid from the apples if needed.
- Fold through the maple syrup and allow to cool.
Making spelt + oatmeal shortcrust
- Combine the spelt flour and butter into a mixing bowl.
- Rub the flour and butter together gently with your fingertips until your dough looks like course breadcrumbs.
- Add a little cold water to combine into a dough. Be careful not to overwork the dough as it will make it tough.
- Coat the dough in rolled oats and divide into 2 pieces.
- Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Roll 1/2 of the chilled pastry between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper to fit a 20 cm pie dish.
- Line the pie dish evenly with half the dough.
- Spoon in the cooled and drained apple filling.
- Roll out the rest of the pastry and gently place over the apple filling.
- Seal any edges and cut a cross at the top of the pastry with a sharp knife.
- Sprinkle some oats over the pastry for decoration.
- Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for 45 minutes or until golden.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with your choice of custard, cashew cream or yoghurt.