Apple Pie

Apple pie in the American sense is a double-crust pie: sliced apples tossed with sugar, cinnamon and a little flour or starch, sealed between a bottom and top crust of shortcrust pastry and baked until the lid is brown and the filling bubbles through the vents. The English were baking apple pies by the fourteenth century and the Dutch have their own tall appeltaart, but the version that became a national symbol in the United States is the flat, nine-inch, lidded pie of the diner counter and the Thanksgiving table, usually served warm with vanilla ice cream or a slice of sharp cheddar. The apple is argued over endlessly: Granny Smith for acidity and structure, Honeycrisp and Braeburn for flavour that survives the oven, and most serious bakers use two or three varieties in one pie so the filling has both bite and softness.