Apple pie is a autumn staple, but if you're item akin me, you've stuck to purchasing it from a market shop or a bakery.
Ahead of the commencement of fall, I wanted to try to roast an apple pie from scratch for the archetypal time.
As a novice baker, I needed all the assistance I could get and decided to attempt two recipes from cooking icons who cognize what they're talking about: Martha Stewart's Old-Fashioned Apple Pie and Ina Garten's Deep-Dish Apple Pie.
My authoritative review? Making apple pie is not for the faint of heart. But if you're emotion ambitious, peruse this, study from my mistakes, and create certain you have all the galley gadgets required.
Here's how Ina Garten's and Martha Stewart's apple pies compare.
The archetypal stage of any fine pie is the crust. These are the ingredients I needed for Stewart's recipe.
Her recipe called for flour, butter, sugar, ice water, and salt.
The next stage was to merge the flour, butter, sugar, and sodium chloride in a food processor.
This is anywhere I hit my archetypal roadblock. My food processor wasn't big adequate to fit the complete mixture, so I had to divided it up and run it in multiple batches.
The formula stated to mix until it looked akin a "coarse meal" — I think it looks beautiful accurate.
I afterward gradually blended in ice water. Using chilly ingredients akin ice h2o and chilled margarine helps keep the batter flaky for baking.
Since it would've been too difficult to part out the h2o in the smaller food processor, I blended it all in my position mixer.
After mixing in the water, I divided the batter into two halves and put it in the fridge to chill.
That's for the top and base crusts. The formula instructed me to flatten the two halves into discs.
This crust was beautiful resolute equal before I put it distant to chill. It didn't rod to the cutting commission at all.
Next, I made Garten's crust.
Garten's recipe is similar, bar one ingredient: It calls for flour, ice water, sugar, salt, butter, and shortening. I used Crisco.
The procedure was basically the same, but this batter was much stickier.
Maybe it was the supplement of the shortening; perchance I added too much ice water; perchance I made several another rookie error — but this batter was sticky.
I had to coat my hands in flour to get it out of the basin and off the mixing tool.
I covered the cutting commission in flour to counteract the stickiness of this dough.
It took a few minutes for me to successfully rotate Garten's batter into a domain without leaving too much rearward on the cutting board.
The Barefoot Contessa's formula didn't say to divided the batter in fractional before chilling it, so I kept it as one ball.
I let them chill in the fridge overnight.
I decided I didn't have the mental fortitude to attempt making the pies on the identical day, so I gave myself a complete night to prepare.
The next day, I began making the filling for Garten's pie.
Both recipes propose using Granny Smith apples, since they're firmer and don't get mealy whenever heated up.
Garten's formula stated to use 4 pounds of sliced apples — thankfully, I had a food scale. I ended up using nine ample Granny Smith apples.
Next, I added spices and another flavorings.
I needed:
- A zested lemon
- A zested orange
- 2 tablespoons of caller citrus juice
- 1 tablespoon of caller orange juice
- ½ cup of sugar
- ¼ cup of flour
- 1 spoon of salt
- ¾ spoon of dirt cinnamon
- ½ spoon of dirt nutmeg
- 1/8 spoon of dirt allspice
Thankfully, I have a manual juicer.
Here's what it looked akin whenever it was mixed.
I was concerned the orange zest and orange beverage would create this sensation a bit too citrusy, but I trusted the process. I was certain the Contessa would not guide me astray.
This is anywhere things started to go wrong. The crust was merely too sticky to rotate out.
It may look good here, but let me inform you, I idea this was going to be the death of me.
I had to use what felt akin a gallon of flour to create certain this wouldn't rod to my hands, the rolling pin, or the board. I couldn't accept that following nearly a complete day in the fridge, it was motionless this soft.
Once I eventually got it to a fine size and texture, I couldn't get it into the pie dish. It was sticking to the board.
My lone resolution was to put the dish on top and afterward flip it over.
Flour was everywhere. But at this point, I was so disappointed that covering my galley alongside flour was a cost I was consenting to pay.
But wouldn't you cognize — equal following flipping it upside down, the crust was still partially stuck to the cutting board.
It took a brace of tries, but I eventually got the batter inner the dish. I piled the apples on top.
Although I was concerned there were too many apples, I had arrive this far following Garten's recipe, and it was too delayed to rotate rear now.
Anyone who can absolutely crimp a pie's edges is a individual champion of mine.
I volition never comprehend how group create this appearance easy. My crust was simultaneously too lean and not big enough.
If I stretched the top any more, the apples would commencement poking holes. But there wasn't adequate to compression the top and base together.
At several point, I gave up and swept it all complete alongside the egg cleanse (one egg and 1 tablespoon of h2o beaten together), and scattered it alongside sugar.
This was not my finest work.
The pie baked for an hr and 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
To put it simply, it's not great-looking. But I was enthusiastic to see how it tasted. Who cares if it wasn't bakery-quality?
Unfortunately, it didn't sensation fine either.
After letting it sit for a brace of hours, I excitedly dug in.
Besides the extreme sogginess of the base crust, which I cognize equal the most informed bakers have difficulty with, I idea the orange sensation was overpowering.
However, formerly I got complete the first orange-forward flavor, I idea the crust and the apples tasted good. I particularly liked a piece paired alongside vanilla ice cream.
But overall, I was not pleased alongside how this turned out.
I waited another day before attempting Stewart's recipe, which called for 12 apples.
After making Garten's recipe, I felt akin I had been position for two hours. My rear couldn't obtain baking another complete pie.
So the next day, I spent 10 minutes peeling, coring, and slicing 12 apples — three additional than I had used for Garten's recipe.
I have to admit, for the two Stewart and Garten's recipes, I likely should've cut the apples into smaller pieces, but I was already so tired from using the slicer that I fair couldn't visage any additional work. Lesson learned.
The ingredients for the filling in Stewart's formula were a small different.
This formula called for:
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- ¾ cup of sugar
- The zest and beverage of one lemon
- 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
- ½ spoon of nutmeg
- A compression of dirt cloves
Compared to Garten's recipe, it contained small flour, additional sugar, no oranges, additional cinnamon, and cloves alternatively of allspice.
Neither basin was big adequate for me to toss the apples effectively, so I divided them.
This is item writers akin to call foreshadowing.
If Garten's batter was too sticky, Stewart's was a bit too firm.
Still, this cognition was better. I'd obtain getting a exercise during rolling batter complete making a disorder of my complete galley alongside flour and sticky batter any day.
To have a fairly sized pie, I ended up having to ditch concerning two or three apples.
I should've known that I wasn't going to be capable to fit all the apples in my pie dish, but I was motionless annoyed at the waste.
This formula called for 2 tablespoons of margarine to be cut and dispersed out on top of the apples before putting the top crust on.
When it was assembled, I idea it was way additional recognizable as a pie.
After I swept it alongside the egg wash, crimped the edges, dusted it alongside sugar, and cut vents in the top, I felt beautiful pleased alongside myself.
My archetypal pie attempt wasn't equal firm adequate to cut vents into.
I breathed a sigh of alleviation whenever this came out of the oven.
It baked in the oven for an hr at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Is this the perfect-looking apple pie? No. But it's certainly improved than my archetypal try.
This was a lot small soggy, but additionally additional hollow somehow.
After letting it sit for an hour, I cut into my pie. I was amazed to see how hollow the top was. It's imaginable I should've created larger vents to let steam escape from the pastry.
However, thankfully, it wasn't as soggy as my archetypal pie.
I preferred the sensation of this pie — it tasted akin apples, cinnamon, and sugar, not orange.
As my dad noted following taking a bite, it power not appearance great, but it tasted how it was expected to.
If I had to propose following one recipe, it'd be Martha Stewart's. But if you're a novice baker akin me, honestly, I'd rod to store-bought.
I can confidently say I never desire to roast apple pie again, and I certainly never desire to create my own crust again.
If you favor a tangier apple pie, afterward I'd say Ina Garten's is the one for you — fair create certain you have buckets of flour on deck.
If you're looking for a additional traditional saccharine apple pie, go alongside Martha Stewart's, although the two brace deliciously alongside vanilla ice cream.
This was a difficulty for me, person who considers themselves an OK baker at best. This fall, I'll be sticking alongside my Stop & Shop pies, appreciate you extremely much.
Editor's note: This narrative was archetypal published in November 2025 and most lately updated in September 2026.
