Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Ingredients:

For the Double Pie Crust:

• 380g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 220g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 120g cold water

For the Salted Caramel Apple Pie Filling:

• 1/2 cup (95 grams) light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom (optional)
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Lemon zest and juice of one lemon
• 4 to 4-1/2 pounds apples (a mix of honeycrisp, pink lady, and gala apples), weight before peeling and coring
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1/2 cup homemade salted caramel sauce

Egg Wash:

• 1 large egg mixed with 1 tbsp water

To Serve:

• Homemade salted caramel sauce
• Vanilla bean ice cream

Instructions:

Make the Pie Dough Using a Food Processor:

1. Add the flour and salt to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse 2–3 times to blend.
2. Add the chilled, cubed butter to the bowl. Pulse 8–12 times in short bursts. You want the butter pieces to range from the size of small peas to large pebbles. Do not over-process into a fine meal!
3. Remove the food processor bowl from the machine and remove the sharp blade. Add in the cold water and mix it into the mixture using a rubber spatula. Once a shaggy dough forms, dump the dough onto a clean work surface. Using a bench scraper, cut the dough in half and stack it on top of each other and press down. Gather any dry bits of flour back into the dough. Keep doing this until the dough is no longer dry. Do not over do it though.
4. Split the dough into two and gently reshape it into a rough flat circle. Wrap each discs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1–2 hours (or up to 2 days) before rolling out.

Make the Pie Dough by Hand:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, and salt.
2. Add the chilled butter cubes to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingertips: Work quickly to cut the butter into the flour. Flatten the larger butter cubes between your thumb and index fingers into thin flakes while tossing them in flour. Stop when you have a mixture of pea-sized butter bits and some flatter, walnut-sized flakes.
3. Add the cold water over the mixture. Use a rubber spatula or fork to toss the dough together gently, like tossing a salad.
4. Once a shaggy dough forms, dump the dough onto a clean work surface. Using a bench scraper, cut the dough in half and stack it on top of each other and press down. Gather any dry bits of flour back into the dough. Keep doing this until the dough is no longer dry. Do not over do it though.
5. Split the dough into two and gently reshape it into a rough flat circle. Wrap each discs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1–2 hours (or up to 2 days) before rolling out.

Make the Apple Pie Filling:

1. Wash, peel, and core 4 to 4-12 pounds of apples (Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Gala).
2. Slice the apples into even 1/4-inch thick slices. Keeping the thickness uniform ensures all the slices cook at the same rate.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine light brown sugar, salt, ground cinnamon, ground cardamom, nutmeg, tsp ground ginger. Whisk together until smooth with no lumps of brown sugar.
4. Add the lemon zest and juice of 1 lemon directly into the spice mixture and whisk to combine.
5. Add the prepared apple slices to the bowl with the spiced lemon mixture.
6. Toss thoroughly using a large spoon or clean hands until every apple slice is evenly coated.
7. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 20–30 minutes. The sugar and salt will draw out excess liquid from the apples, softening them slightly and creating a concentrated spiced syrup at the bottom of the bowl.
8. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of cornstarch evenly over the macerated apples and their accumulated juices.
9. Toss well until the cornstarch is completely dissolved into the liquids with no white powdery patches remaining. Set aside while you roll out the pie dough.

Assemble and Bake:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Take one disk of pie dough out of the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature for 5–10 minutes so it softens just enough to roll without cracking. (If it feels cold but yields slightly when pressed, it’s ready.)
3. Lightly dust a clean work surface, your rolling pin, and the top of the dough disk with some all-purpose flour.
4. Place your rolling pin in the center of the dough disk. Roll forward away from you, then backward toward you using light, even pressure. Give the dough a quarter-turn (90 degrees) after every couple of rolls. Rotating frequently keeps the dough from sticking to the counter and ensures a round shape. If the dough starts sticking at any point, dust a tiny bit more flour underneath it and on the rolling pin.
5. Continue rolling and rotating until you have a circle approximately 12 to 13 inches in diameter and about ⅛-inch thick (roughly 3 inches wider than your 9-inch pie dish).
6. Transfer this rolled out pie dough onto a piece of parchment paper and place it in the fridge. Take out the other half of the chilled pie dough and repeat the rolling process again from above.
7. Once the pie dough has been rolled out, gently wrap the rolled dough circle around your rolling pin, or fold it loosely into quarters. Center it over your 9-inch pie dish and unroll/unfold it gently over the pan.
8. Gently lift the edges of the dough and ease it down into the corners and sides of the dish. Do not stretch or pull the dough, as stretching causes it to shrink back down the sides while baking.
9. Carefully pile in the apple pie filling into the pie-crusted dish. Try to arrange the apple slices so they are lying flat on top of each other. This way, you are able to pile on more apples efficiently.
10. Pour any remaining juices from the filling over the apple pie filling. Then drizzle 1/2 cup of salted caramel sauce right on top of the apples.
11. Take the chilled, rolled out pie crust out of the fridge and gently place the pie crust over the apple pie.
12. Tuck the overhanging dough under itself along the rim to create a clean, double-thick folded edge rest on the dish rim.
13. Crimp the edges:
    • Fluted Edge: Press your left index finger against the inside edge of the dough while gently pinching the outside with your right thumb and index finger to create a scalloped pattern.
    • Fork Edge: Simply press the tines of a flour-dusted fork along the flat rim to seal.
14. Brush top crust with some egg wash then sprinkle with some granulated sugar on top if desired. Then using a knife, cut 4 little slits on the top of the pie to create a vent to let the steam escape as it bakes.
15. Bake at 400F for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes until the pie is evenly golden brown. Turning the pie every 20 minutes to ensure even baking. If needed, you may loosely cover the pie with a piece of aluminum foil on top to prevent any potential burning.
16. Take the baked pie out of the oven and allow it to cool off on a wired cooling rack for about 2-3 hours at room temperature. Once the pie is no longer warm, lightly cover it with plastic wrap and store in the fridge to firm up overnight before slicing and serving. This will ensure that your apple pie filling will not collapse when you serve the slices.
17. When ready to serve, cut the apple pie using a serrated knife. If you would like to serve the slices warm, microwave the individual slices about 30-50 seconds, or until they are warm to the touch. Serve with more homemade salted caramel sauce and vanilla bean ice cream.
18. Enjoy!