Classic Apple Pie

You can make apple pie up to 2 days ahead. Store it in the fridge covered with plastic wrap. If you make it only 1 day ahead, you can store it one the counter covered with a clean tea towel.

Allow to come to room temperature or slightly warm in the oven before serving.

Apple pies can be frozen up to 2 months.

Baked apple pie: cool completely, then wrap in plastic foil first, then in aluminum foil. Label with the name and use-by date before freezing. Bake at 300°F for 45-60 minutes to defrost and warm.

Unbaked apple pie: carefully wrap in plastic foil first, then in aluminum foil, making sure you’re not turning the pie or the filing will leak. Label with the name and use-by date before freezing, making sure the pie is level in the freezer. Thaw in the fridge before baking as directed in the recipe.

To speed up the cooling of the filling, spread it on a baking sheet or in a large casserole dish.

If your pie pastry is very chilled and hard, it can be easier to roll it after it’s been at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Do not let it stand for longer though or the butter will get soft and your pie crust could turn out dense and gummy.

Do not skip pre-heating the baking sheet, it helps so much with browning the bottom crust!

If necessary, loosely cover the pie with a piece of aluminum foil after 20-30 minutes of baking time to keep it from getting too dark on top.

Cool the finished pie on a cooling rack on the counter to keep a soggy bottom away.

Yes! Both in the crust and in the filling. The apple cider vinegar doesn’t affect the taste of the pie pastry, but it helps to make the pie crust flaky. Vinegar helps to stop the gluten from developing. Developing the gluten would make for a tough crust, so please don’t skip it out of fear you’re going to end up with a tart crust.

In the filling, THIS is what makes Sam Sifton’s apple pie filling SO special! It adds something amazing to the taste of the finished apple pie you can’t quite place your finger on. It definitely doesn’t taste of vinegar in the end!

Most people consider Granny Smith the best apples for apple pie, but Honeycrisp or Jonathan also work really well.

The crust turns out best with a high-quality European-style butter (it has a slightly higher fat content), but it’s delicious with regular butter, too.

Please don’t use buttery spread, but stick margarine is fine – it just won’t taste so buttery.

If you prefer making a pie crust with shortening instead of butter, use all shortening/Crisco in place of the butter called for in the pie crust recipe above. Cut the flour back to 2 ¼ cup.

Vegan or dairy free crust: Follow the recipe as written, using solid coconut oil or vegan margarine in place of the butter.

If you can’t use eggs, or don’t want to, here are some alternatives to make your pie crust look good after baking:

Half-and-half or heavy cream can be used for a lightly shiny pie crust.

Water or milk can be used for a browned crust.

Slicing the cooled pie into 8 even slices for serving works best. The first slice of pie is always very difficult to remove well and it often collapses/turns into a mess.

If you have company you want to impress, you’ll want to pull at least the first slice from the dish away from prying eyes. Once that first slice is removed, it’s a lot easier to get a hold of the slices with a cake server to remove them neatly.

It’s also important to make sure each slice is fully sliced away from its neighboring slices. Else, you’ll rip off half of the pastry when you’re trying to remove it from the dish.