Easy as Pie!

I had 5 apples that I had to use before they went south so along with a lemon, some sugar, flour and shortening--pie is born. Anytime you have raw fruit to work with, you'll need to add a couple of tablespoons of flour to the sugar you combine with your fruit (pictured above).

The apples are sliced by quartering and cutting out the core pieces. I always like my fruit to taste "bright," so adding lemon juice is a must. Apples are tossed with the lemon and sugar/flour mixture and set aside. 

shortening and sugar

shortening, sugar and oil

Putting pie crust together is more an art than science; though I'm certain Alton Brown and his buds would disagree! I feel my way through, as the pics show here.
In a medium sized bowl, for a largish pie, spoon a generous cup of solid vegetable shortening and add to half of the shortening lump about 1/4 cup sugar. Beat together the sugary shortening and about 1/4 cup liquid vegetable oil. Leaving solid shortening will create that flaky pie crust we all love.

 Put twice as much flour as shortening into the bowl. Add a pinch of salt and then carefully use your hands to mix. Gently work the shortening into the flour, leaving small pebbles of solid shortening. These pebbles will flatten out when rolled and make the crust layered with flakes as the hot air turns it to liquid. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

 After your dough looks like cornmeal with pebbles, STOP! Don't overwork it! Put a fork to it and toss as little by little very cold water is drizzled into the dough until it pulls together into larger, stickier lumps. Again, STOP! Don't over mix! Some of the flour mixture will look a bit dry, especially on the bottom of the bowl--that's okay.

add cold water and toss

Turn out onto a plastic wrap covered surface, bring the plastic up around the dough and press into a circle. Open it up and cover with more plastic wrap. Roll from the center outward until it is a consistent thickness--thicker is more "rustic." I like thicker, free-form pies.

After you press your dough into a circle, it helps to chill the dough for an hour or so in the frig. While this is not absolutely necessary, it makes the fats solidify and then really pop in the hot oven.

 After you roll out your dough, remove the plastic from the top. Slide your right hand under the bottom plastic wrap and with your left hand, cover the dough with your pie plate or cookie sheet. Flip it quickly so that your right hand is now on top and the crust is in the pie plate. Peel away the remaining plastic wrap and fill with fruit. Top with small chunks of butter and sprinkled sugar. Pictured below: Free form, "rustic" apple pie.

 It usually takes about 40-50 minutes for a large pie to bake if you're using raw, dense fruit like apples. To check for doneness, stick a sharp knife into the apples--if they're soft but still a bit firm, you're golden! If you want a shiny crust, brush it with a little half and half before baking and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Add vanilla ice cream if you're feeling extravagant. Enjoy!