Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Another salty-sweet recipe from Four & Twenty Blackbirds! (See also the Salty Honey Pie from a couple weeks ago). This pie, a request from our friend Georgia, turned out close to perfect, though it could have been better if I'd done a couple things differently. But all in all, delicious.

The original recipe was found here, though as usual I'll reprint it for ease of access. Since that recipe didn't specify a dough/crust approach, I used the one from the Salty Honey Pie post, reprinted here:

Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Crust
By Melissa and Emily Elsen

This recipe makes one double crusted, 9-inch pie.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
8-10 tablespoons ice water with cider vinegar, or more as needed (combine 1 cup cold water, 1/8 cup cider vinegar and ice)

Whisk the dry ingredients together and blend with a hand-held pastry blender the chopped, cold butter, being careful not to overwork during this step. The butter should be in pea-sized chunks, not too big, but not completely incorporated.

Slowly add the ice water and vinegar mixture and bring the dough completely together by hand, again being careful not to overwork. Aim to create a marbleized effect, so that the butter is still visible.

Divide into 2 discs, wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour or more before use.

Here we are, with dry ingredients, recipe and icewater at the ready.

And, cutting in the cold butter (with a fork. For some odd reason I haven't procured a pastry cutter yet, though obviously it'd be a worthwhile investment). I'm never sure how far to work this step- everyone says "don't overwork"... but if you don't cut the butter into pretty small pieces, you wind up with a patchwork of dry flour and melty butter, instead of cohesive marbled dough. I've been spending a good 5 minutes or more on this step, which seems like a long time- but still results in pretty big butter chunks being left behind. Maybe a pastry cutter would help.

This time around apparently I didn't add enough water. When pressed into balls the dough really wanted to flake apart into buttery chunks. I went ahead and chilled them anyhow- but when it came to rolling them out, this was still a problem, and the rolling wound up being messy and difficult as a result. I'm not sure whether dough is supposed to be easy to handle, or if that's normal.

Sure enough, rolling out the bottom dough was sticky and tricky. It really wanted to flake apart.

Nevertheless I did manage to manhandle it into the pan (which, after a little edge-cleanup, went into the freezer):

And, now for a lattice top! I rolled it out (with even more difficulty than the first ball- but a little water and patience helped). Then used a pizza roller/cutter to trim the sides to a rectangle.

Once rectangular, I cut into strips and arranged to be pie-sized. (Luckily I had an extra pie pan on hand to hold up for reference). 

Making a lattice top is fun. You fold back every other strip at the halfway point, lay down a cross-strip; then switch rows and repeat. 

Once one half is done, you continue with the other half: 

And before long you have a lovely lattice top! (Note to self and other novices- do this on a baking sheet so that you can slide it directly into the freezer when done, instead of having to wrestle it onto a baking sheet later).

And, now, the filling recipe!

Four and Twenty Blackbirds Salted Caramel Apple Pie
Recipe courtesy Melissa and Emily Elsen

INGREDIENTS
Salted Caramel
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
1 stick (1/2 cup) fresh unsalted butter
1/2 cup fresh heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (recommended: Maldon sea salt flakes)

Apple Filling
4 to 6 lemons
5 to 6 medium to large apples*
*Cook's Note: A mixture of Crispin, Granny Smith, and Cortland is nice if you can.

Apple Filling Seasoning
1/3 cup raw sugar (castor, unrefined, large granule sugar)
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Assembly
1 egg, beaten
Raw sugar, for sprinkling on top
1 teaspoon sea salt (flake)

DIRECTIONS
To make the pie crust:
Prepare one 2-crust batch of your favorite all butter pie crust. Roll the bottom crust to fit a 9-inch pan, and cut the top crust as a lattice, approximately 1-inch in width or as desired. Chill the rolled crust while you prepare the salted caramel and apple filling.

To make the salted caramel:
Cook the sugar and water together over low heat until just dissolved. Add the butter and bring to a slow boil. Continue cooking at a low boil until the mixture turns a deep, golden brown color, almost copper.
Cook's Note: This process can take awhile depending on the heat source. Keep an eye on it, if the caramel
begins to smoke, you've burned it and you'll have to start over.

Ero's note!:
This process took forever and I nearly destroyed it, because what's not specified here is that caramel should not be stirred once it gets hot. It also needs to be cooked on a medium-low heat, not a low heat, or it won't darken in color. What happened to me is that the mixture began separating again, back into granular form, before darkening; as a result I thought I'd ruined it. (Luckily, after whisking in cream, it regained its liquid form- but it never did get dark enough, and as a result lacked the caramelly texture and flavor it should've had). Read more about caramel magic here (see the 'Pointers for Success').

Once the mixture has turned a copper color, remove it from the heat and immediately add the heavy cream - the mixture will bubble rapidly and steam - be cautious as the sugar will be very hot.

Whisk the final mixture together well over low heat and sprinkle in the sea salt. Set the caramel aside while you prepare the apple filling.

To make the apple filling:
Juice the lemons into a large mixing bowl. Core, peel, and thinly slice the whole apples. Cook's Note: A mandolin works great for producing very thin slices.

Dredge all the apple slices in the freshly squeezed lemon juice to prevent browning and to add flavor. Set the prepared apples aside.

To make the apple filling seasoning:
In a large measuring cup or small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and Angostura bitters. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples in the mixing bowl. Use your hands to gently mix and coat the apple slices. 


Ero's note!:
Adding bitters to the dry ingredients is dumb- you wind up with little nodules of bitters dough amidst a sea of flour. Better to add the bitters after mixed with the apples. (Also: drain the apples thoroughly first, so that your dry ingredients don't get washed away by lemon juice!)

To assemble the pie:
Preheat the oven to 375 to 400 degrees F (depending on the hotness of your oven).

Gather your rolled pie crust, salted caramel, and apple mixture. Begin by layering 1/3 of the apples in the bottom of the crust so that there are minimal gaps. Pour 1/3 of the caramel over the apples. Add 1/3 of the apples and caramel for a second layer, and then add a third layer of apples, and then the caramel again. Cook's Note: Save a small portion of the caramel to pour on top once the lattice is assembled.

Assemble the lattice crust and flute the edges of the crust. Pour the last bit of caramel on top. Brush the crust with the beaten egg and lightly sprinkle with raw sugar and sea salt.

Bake the pie on a baking sheet larger than the pie pan for 20 minutes (otherwise the caramel will bubble over and burn on the bottom of your oven). Reduce the oven temperature to 325 to 350 and bake for 25 to 35 minutes. You can test the apples for doneness with a long toothpick or small knife. The apples should be just soft.

Let the pie cool, then slice and enjoy.


Peeling and chopping apples (give yourself lots of time, this always takes longer than anticipated):

I like to quarter apples, then slice them cross-wise:

Juicing lemons!

Beginning the caramel (on too low of heat):

Stirring the caramel (probably unwisely.) Note the crystallization happening on the sides of the pan:

Oh no! It's turning back to powder (and nowhere near 'copper-colored')!

Layering the apples. (Note the bitters-spots).

Layering and drizzling, layering and drizzling.

Almost done. I like heaping fillings high, since it's going to shrink & settle while baking.

Getting the lattice onto the pie was a difficult move. Don't ask me how I did it- I think it involved a daredevil flip and some hasty rearranging of lost strips.

Fresh out of the oven and looking good!

And, one more lovely look. (Note the glossiness of the egg coating, and the visible flakes of sea salt).

Next up: a honey-sweetened Marionberry pie!