Dan Lepard's duo of recipes for apple pie
Time to turn apples into pies as we stroll into autumn. Remember, sour apples tend to bake to a fluff, while dessert ones hold their shape better.
Alehouse apple pie
The addition of sugar and butter to beer supresses its savoury bitterness and brings a rich, malt flavour to the fore. You need only half the quantity of pastry here, so save the rest – just wrap the excess in clingfilm and chill or freeze until needed (it'll keep for at least a month in the freezer).
10-12 dessert apples
Butter
2 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp plain flour, plus extra for rolling
50g sugar (any sort)
For the sweet ale pastry
225g strong white flour, plus extra
75g spelt or wholemeal flour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g dark brown sugar
1 good pinch of salt
200g unsalted butter, cold and firm and cut into 1cm cubes
125ml dark ale (or stout)
First make the pastry. Put the flours, bicarb, sugar and salt in a bowl, then toss the butter through the flour. Add the ale, mix to a softish lumpy dough, then wrap and freeze for 15 minutes, to firm. Flour a worktop, unwrap and flour the dough, too, then roll to 1cm thick and fold in by thirds. Repeat, wrap and chill again, then repeat the double roll, fold and chill sequence twice more at 15- to 30-minute intervals. It'll be messy to begin with, but will smooth out by the last roll. Wrap again, and chill until needed.
Peel, core and cut the apples into thickish pieces. Heat a few teaspoons of butter in a frying pan, add the apples and sauté on high heat until beginning to colour but still firm. Tip on to a plate and leave to cool.
Mix the spice, flour and sugar. Butter a 20cm springform cake tin. Roll the dough with a little flour into a 30cm-diameter square. Lay over the tin so the corners hang over the edge, and press gently into the base. Scoop in the apples, alternating with a sprinkle of spice mix as you go. Fold the dough over the top, leaving a cross-like gap in the middle, and bake at 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 for 45-60 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and the apples tender.
Bramley and custard meringue pie
2 bramley apples
Sugar and lemon, to taste
For the pastry
125g plain flour
25g icing sugar
75g unsalted butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1 or 2 tsp ice-cold water
For the custard
75ml double cream
30g caster sugar
2 tsp corn flour
1 vanilla pod
2 egg yolks
100ml milk, any sort
25g unsalted butter
For the meringue
3 egg whites
100g caster sugar
Peel, core and slice the apples, then cook, covered, with the juice of half a lemon and a tablespoon of water until fluffy. Remove the lid, simmer until thick, then sweeten to taste.
Put the flour and icing sugar in a bowl, rub in the butter, then mix in the egg yolk and water until smooth. Wrap, chill until firm, then leave to soften slightly before rolling and lining a deep, 18cm round fluted tart case. Chill the tart. Press a sheet of nonstick paper into it weighed down with dry beans, and bake at 170C/(150C fan-assisted)/335F/gas mark 3 for 30 minutes (remove the paper for the last 10 minutes), until golden.
In a saucepan, whisk the cream, sugar, corn flour, vanilla and yolks until smooth. Add the milk and bring to a boil, whisking often. Beat in the butter and pour into the pastry case without overfilling it. Swirl in the apple. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, beat in the sugar until glossy, then swirl the meringue over the apple and custard. Bake at 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4, until golden. Leave to cool before serving.
