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Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Source of Recipe

From "Saveur: The New Classics"


Recipe Introduction

Adapted from a recipe from Brooklyn's Four I& Twenty Blackbirds pie shop, this deep-dish delight is packed with apples and a thick salted caramel sauce. Choose both sweet and tart apples to balance the caramel's richness.

List of Ingredients

◦  1 recipe Flaky Butter Pie Dough
◦  3 tablespoons flour, plus more for dusting
◦  7 baking apples, such as Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, or Honeycrisp (about 3 pounds), peeled, halved, cored, and thinly sliced
◦  3 tablespoons plus 1 cup granulated sugar
◦  Juice of 2 lemons
◦  8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
◦  ½ cup heavy cream
◦  8 tablespoons demerara sugar
◦  ½ teaspoon Angostura bitters
◦  ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
◦  ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
◦  ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
◦  ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
◦  ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
◦  ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
◦  1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water


Recipe

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one dough disk into a 12-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Trim edges with a knife, leaving 1-inch dough overhanging edge of plate; chill for 30 minutes. On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll out remaining dough disk into a 12-inch round; trim, discarding edges, into a 9-inch square. Slice into six 1½-inch wide strips; chill for 30 minutes.

Toss apples with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and the lemon juice; cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour. Whisk 1 cup sugar and ¼ cup water in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat and cook, without stirring, until the sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 minutes. Add butter and bring to a boil. Continue cooking until the mixture turns a deep red-brown and a candy thermometer inserted in sauce reads 325° F, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat. Carefully add cream, stirring until sauce is smooth.

Heat oven to 375° F.
Stir 5 tablespoons demerara sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, bitters, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, kosher salt, and pepper together in a large bowl. Drain apples, discarding juices, add to bowl, and toss to coat in spice mixture. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon flour and sugar over crust and tightly arrange apples over dough, mounding them slightly higher in the center. Pour caramel sauce evenly over apples. Sprinkle with half the sea salt.

Make a lattice top:
Lay 3 dough strips vertically across top of pie about 1½ inches apart. Fold first and third strips in half upward. Lay 1 horizontal strip at pie's center. Unfold first and third vertical strips over it. Fold second vertical strip upward. Lay another horizontal strip below the first. Unfold second vertical strip over bottom horizontal strip, then fold it again downward. Lay a third horizontal strip just above the pie's center and unfold second vertical strip. Pinch bottom crust and lattice edges together, roll toward center of pie to hide lattice edges, and crimp edges. Brush egg over crust, then sprinkle lattice with remaining 3 tablespoons demerara and ¼ teaspoon sea salt.

Bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbly, about 1 hour. Let cool completely before serving.


Serves 8


Flaky Butter Pie Dough:

2¼ cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
6 tablespoons ice-cold water

Whisk flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your fingers, cut butter into flour mixture, forming pea-size crumbles. Add water and work dough until smooth but with visible flecks of butter. (Alternatively, pulse ingredients in a food processor.) Divide dough in half and flatten into disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap; chill for 1 hour before using.


Makes enough for 2 crusts