Dairy free whole wheat apple pie

So there are sort of two things you can take away from this blog post: 1) a nutritious pie crust recipe 2) my method for making pies. 

Pie is one of those things where... Who uses a recipe? So often that leaves us young'ens questioning how to put a decent pie together. Well thanks to some early teenage curiosity, I have actually been making pies for years already and had plenty of trial and error!

This pie crust recipe was a simple attempt to health-ify a very unhealthy pastery. I prettymuch always just use the recipe on the tender flake box, however that makes six crusts!! I only need two, and it's some very annoying math to divide the ingredients. I admit, I have always hated pie crusts... Dry and flaky... Yuck. No thanks. Hand me a soft juicy cinnamon bun if I have to consume that many calories!! Despite this hatred, I have been complimented countless times on the flakiness of my crusts. I actually enjoyed this crust myself. The men I served it to "prefer a more traditional crust". ...but who wouldn't complain about all whole wheat crust? So it's kind of optional with this recipe. There's still some good methodology here you can take away even if you don't need or want a healthy pie crust! (And seriously the tender flake recipe is dinamite all on its own). 

So to make the crust you put two cups of flour (white or whole wheat or any combination of the two) in a bowl with a tsp of salt. Stir that up. I used all whole wheat cause I like fiber... :)

Add 3/4 cup coconut oil (or lard if you are serving picky eaters... I find the coconut oil actually makes a flakier crust, though you can taste it in this recipe... Which I like personally). It also makes biscuits way flakier FYI. And you can't taste it in them. 

Cut in the coconut oil with your pastery blender (looks like a potato masher only it has long blade-like pieces instead of a flat masher). 

It should start to look like this (coarse oatmeal)

Next comes the tricky part. 

Crack an egg into a small bowl and beat it very well. It should all be one color, no whites floating in there, and the yolk well incorporated. 

Put roughly 1 1/2 tbsp egg into a liquid measure. (I did three scoops with a measuring tablespoon cause it is impossible to actually fill the spoon. The egg slips out... So I did three half-full tbsp). Add a tbsp of vinegar to the measure, then top off with cold water to make 1/3 cup of liquid total. I used apple cider vinegar simply cause that's what I had on hand, but normally I would use plain white vinegar. 

Stir this into the dough, eventually using your hands to make a dough 

Here is where some method comes in. Pastery is always flakier if it goes into the oven cold. However with coconut oil you can't simply roll out the dough once it is chilled. The oil gets quite solid in a fridge. 

So I roll it out while it's warm and put it in the fridge pre- assembled

Your bottom crust is very forgiving, since it is about practicality vs appearance. Roll it out approximately then start patching here and there with the bits that hang over. 

Steal a bit from your top crust portion if needed. The top generally doesn't need to be quite as big anyway, since it goes on a bit flatter. 

Cover your crust with Saran or waxed paper and put something inside it to hold the paper in place (not necessary for Saran. This is just to prevent it from drying out in the fridge)

Next roll out a big round circle  of dough for the top half between waxed paper. Put this in your fridge flat. If you bend it in half it will just brake when you try to straighten it later, leaving you with a big seam down the centre of your pie. No one wants that.

While your crusts are chilling pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. 

Now start peeling them apples. 

I swear by Granny Smiths for pie. The apple really does make the pie. If you use the wrong apple you will have apple soup instead of apple pie. You want a good firm apple that will hold its shape and add a bit of tartness. I hate eating granny's raw but they are still the best in a pie. Second choice would be macintosh. 

The next methodology part is how you cut your apples. The smaller the pieces, the less likely you will be to make soup instead of pie! So cut them small! I know wedges look pretty but they also make things watery. 

I start by quartering my apples, then coring them. 

I take each quarter and cut it into four slices. 

Then I cut the slices across into four sections again.  16 pieces from each quarter. So quite small!

Next mix up your thickener/spice/sweetener. You can play a bit here. This makes a nice sweet pie. If you like yours a bit more tart, use less sugar. You can use whatever spices suit your fancy too. I used 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup white flour, 1 tbsp corn starch. The flour and corn starch are thickeners. This is a maximum thickening amount I would use for a six apple pie. It makes a nice pasty filling. Not at all watery but not dry either. If you like your pies to be more juicy you can tweak this to your liking. I am just a bit paranoid about making pie soup...

Now you are ready to pull your crusts out of the fridge. Start with your bottom crust, leaving the top in the fridge.

Put two tsp of your mixture into the bottom of your crust and swirl it around to cover the bottom evenly. 

Mix the rest into your apples directly. 

Now put your apples into the shell. You want them to be nicely heaped for aprettier pie. I used six apples and this is quite a shallow pie plate. You may need to use more depending on your pie plate.

 Cover the apples with your top crust and pinch the edges by pressing your thumbs into the dough. Then cut slits into the top of the dough for steam to escape. You can make a heart, a face or just boring old lines like this one. 

Next generously brush your pie with the remaining egg mixture. It's okay if it puddles like this. It'll all soak in leaving a nice glossy finish. 

I sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar after I egg it.

When I bake a pie I always put a pan on the rack below incase the pie gets juicy and needs to drip somewhere. I don't like  cleaning my oven...

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes to get a browning on the crust. Then turn the oven down to 350 for 40-60 minutes depending how firm you like your apples. 

And that's it!! It's just that easy. 

Whole wheat coconut oil apple pie

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup coconut oil 

1 1/2 tbsp beaten egg (reserve remainder for egg wash)

1 tbsp vinegar (white or apple cider)

Cold water to make 1/3 cup of liquid

6-8 Granny Smith apples

2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup white flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

Combine flour and salt. Cut in coconut oil with a pastery blender. In a liquid measure, combine 1 1/2 tbsp egg, 1 tbsp vinegar and enough water to make 1/3 a cup of liquid. Add liquid to dry ingredients and mix well. Knead on counter and divide into two parts (one slightly larger for bottom crust is fine). Roll out bottom crust and place in pan. Cover with Saran and refrigerate. Roll out top crust between waxed paper and refrigerate flat. 

Meanwhile peel and chop apples. Combine the cinnamon flour sugar and corn starch and toss with apples, reserving 2 tbsp to sprinkle on your bottom crust. 

Remove bottom crust from fridge and sprinkle 2 tbsp of the sweetener-thickener into it. Top with apples and then top crust. Pinch crust shut and cut some air vent holes in the top. Brush with remaining egg yolk.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 for 50-60 minutes. 

Cool and serve!