Welcome back!
I love baking. I also love the classics. I don’t think that food has to be complicated or extravagant to taste good. I love to try out new recipes I find for the classics, like Apple Pie.
Here’s my mish-mashed personal recipe (it took about three or four recipes and a fair amount of experimenting). Enjoy!
Classic Apple Pie
Pastry:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cup unbleached unsifted all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
6 tablespoons very cold water
2 teaspoons apple-cider vinegar
Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh-grated nutmeg
2-3 tablespoon tapioca flour or cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch wedges (about 5 or 6 apples)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
cinnamon sugar: 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Directions:
Prepare Filling:
In a large bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, tapioca flour, and salt. Add apple slices and toss to combine. Drizzle lemon juice over apple filling, toss again to combine.
Pour apples into colander placed over a large bowl. Leave them to drain while you prepare the rest.
Make pie crust:
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with chopping blade, process flour & salt about 5 seconds. Add butter & pulse 4 times. Divide shortening into 4 chunks and add to bowl. Pulse 4 times & scrape bowl. Combine vinegar & cold water. With machine running, slowly add water/vinegar mixture in steady steam through the feed tube and pulse just until dough almost gathers together. (It will be a lumpy mess – this is a good thing!) Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press together gently & then divide into two pieces – one slightly larger than the other. Shape each piece into a small disk, wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 60-90 minutes.
Put the pie together:
When ready to bake, place one oven rack in lowest position and another in the center of the oven. Place a heavy baking sheet on the lower rack and heat oven to 450 degrees F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out larger crust disk into a 13-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate, being careful not to stretch. Leave the excess dough hanging over edge. Roll out remaining disk into about a 12-inch circle.
Fill ‘er up!
Remember your draining apples? Spoon them gently into your pastry lined pan, mounding the apples in the center. Dot the filling evenly with the butter bits. Lightly brush overhanging edge of pastry with water. Place remaining disk over top, and press edges to firmly seal. Trim excess pastry to about 1/2 inch of rim. Flute (or fork) the edges. Lightly brush the top crust with water and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. With a sharp knife, cut a few vents in the top crust.
Bake the pie:
Place pie on baking sheet (on the lower rack in oven) and bake 15 minutes. Transfer the pie and baking sheet to center rack and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking until crust has browned and thickened juices are bubbling — about 1 hour more. Transfer pie to wire rack; let cool completely before serving. (Completely – not warm, or you’ll have a runny mess!)
I like it served at room temperature, which isn’t a problem because it rarely lasts 3 days around here. 
