I've never actually seen a recipe like this in an old cookbook, but it's the sort of pie one imagines might have been served on farms of an earlier day, when buttermilk was the everyday byproduct of churning butter and fried apples were served with great country breakfasts or for dinner with ham. First, we fry up thick apple rings-and you really must cook them until they're tender because they won't get any softer once they're surrounded by the buttermilk custard. The rings go into a prebaked pie shell, but you'll find that once you pour on the custard, they will rise to the top of the pie, where they will stay and form an attractive circle pattern. In fact, if they don't rise, just nudge them a little with a fork so that they float to the Surface. The pie is baked until the custard is set, then cooled and refrigerated before serving. I suppose you could serve it warm, but I think the custard tastes so much better when it's cold.
Makes 8 to 10 Servings
1 Recipe Best Butter Pie Pastry, Refrigerated (Recipe Below)
Filling:
2 Golden Delicious Apples
1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 large eggs plus one large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
If you haven't already, prepare the pastry and refrigerate it until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.
On a sheet of lightly floured waxed paper, roll the pastry into a 13 1/2-inch circle with a floured rolling pin. Invert the pastry over a 9- inch deep-dish pie pan. Center it, and then peel off the paper. Gently tuck the pastry into the pan, without stretching it, and sculpt the edge into an upstanding ridge. Place the pie shell in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, and then fully prebake it according to the instructions below. Let cool on a wire rack as you put together the filling. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
As the pie shell cools, prepare the filling. Leaving the skins on, cut the apples into crosswise slices about 3/4 inch thick. Core each slice and select the 6 best-looking slices. Melt the 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet and add the apple slices, sprinkling 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar over them. Fry over medium heat for about 4 minutes, then flip the slices and fry them on the other side for another few minutes, until nearly tender. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar over the apples and flip once more. Cook for another minute or two, until the slices are tender. Transfer the slices to a plate.
Meanwhile, combine the brown sugar and flour in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the eggs and yolk and the vanilla. Process until smooth. Add the buttermilk and melted butter and process just until blended.
Put one apple ring in the center of the prebaked pie shell and arrange the others around it. Very slowly pour the buttermilk custard over the apples. If the slices don't rise, lift them up with a fork. Put the pie directly on the center oven rack and bake for about 45 minutes. To check for doneness, give the pie pan a poke. The custard shouldn't move in waves, but instead should seem set in the center; don't overbake.
Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and let cool thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least several hours before serving.
Best Butter Pie Pastry
This is the workhorse of my pie pastry repertoire. It has a great buttery flavor, it's easy to roll, and it holds up beautifully in the pan, remaining firm and distinct rather than turning into mush, as some pastries do. In short, I'm crazy
about this pastry and almost reflexively refer to it when I'm going to make a single-crust pie. You can, if you like, make this pastry by hand, but if you have a food processor, I'm not sure why you'd want to. The most important thing to remember about this dough is not to overprocess it, or the butter will warm up and melt into the pastry, with less-than- desirable results.
Makes enough pastry for one 9-inch deep dish pie shell
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 large egg yolk
about 3 tablespoons cold water
Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse several times to mix.
Remove the lid and scatter the butter pieces over the dry ingredients. Pulse the machine repeatedly - 6 or 7 one-second bursts until the butter is broken into very small pieces.
Place the egg yolk in a 1-cup glass measure and add just enough of the water to equal 1/4 cup liquid. Using a fork, blend the water and yolk. Remove the lid of the processor and pour the liquid over the entire surface of the dry ingredients. Don't, in other words, pour it into one spot. Pulse the machine again, in short bursts, until the pastry starts to form large clumps. Don't over process, or the butter will start to melt rather than stay in small pieces.
Tear off a sheet of plastic wrap about 14 inches long and place it nearby.
Empty the crumbs into a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, pack the dough as you would a snowball. Knead the dough 2 or 3 times, right in the bowl. Put the dough in the center of the plastic wrap and flatten it into a disk about 3/4 inch thick. The edges will probably crack slightly; just pinch and mold them back into a smooth disk. Wrap the dough in the plastic and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.
To mix by hand:
Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Scatter the butter pieces over the dry ingredients and cut them in, using a pastry blender or 2 knives, until the butter is broken into very fine pieces; the mixture will not be quite as fine as with the processor.
Blend the yolk and water as directed above. Sprinkle about half of the liquid over the flour, mixing it in with a fork. Lift the mixture up from the bottom of the bowl and press down on the downstroke. Add the remaining liquid a little at a time until the dough coheres. You may need 1 to 2 teaspoons more water.
How to Prebake a Pie Shell
First, freeze the pie shell until it is good and firm. Then tear off a long sheet of aluminum foil and press it into the pastry until it fits like a second skin. Arrange the excess foil on either side so it sort of points out like a pair of wings. This gives you something to grab when you remove the foil later. Don't bunch the foil around the pan, or it will deflect the heat. Fill the foil with about 1 1/2 pounds of dried beans, pushing them up the sides a little to keep the pastry snug against the pan.
Bake the pie shell on the center rack of a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Using potholders grasp the foil on either side and slowly lift the beans out of the shell. Using a fork, poke the bottom of the pastry 5 or 6 times, twisting the fork slightly to enlarge the holes, so steam can escape. This will prevent the pastry from puffing up.
Put the pie shell back in the oven and bake for another 5 to 7 minutes for a partially prebaked shell, or bake another 15 minutes for a fully prebaked shell.
The bottom of the former will be light golden in color; the latter will be a bit darker.
Let cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before filling.
If your filling is on the soupy side, you might want to fill in those little fork holes in the bottom of the shell to keep the liquid from running out. I make a small amount of flour and water paste, starting with 1 tablespoon each of flour and water. Then I dab the tiniest bit of paste into each hole. You'll never be able to detect the paste in the final analysis
