Dutch apple pie

Ingredients

Pastry

• 400 gplain flour
• 250 gcold butter, cubed
• 150 glight brown sugar
• 1egg
• ½ tspsalt
• zest of 1 lemon

Filling

• 1.5 kgfirm tart apples, peeled and thickly sliced
• 100 gsugar
• 3 tspground cinnamon
• 100 graisins, soaked in rum
• 3 tbspbreadcrumbs
• juice of ½ lemon

To finish

• 1egg, beaten
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Rub the butter into the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest, then bring it together with the egg into a firm dough. Add no water at all.
2. Chill the dough for an hour, which firms the butter enough to press it up the sides without it sliding back down.
3. Press two thirds of it into a deep 24 cm springform tin, taking it right up the sides to their full height.
4. Build it tall. An appeltaart is a deep straight-sided pie packed with apple rather than a shallow tart, and the sides have to come all the way up.
5. Scatter the breadcrumbs across the base.
6. Those breadcrumbs are doing real work. They take up the juice the apples release and stop the base going soggy underneath.
7. Toss the apple slices with the sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and drained raisins, and pack them into the case.
8. Pack them tightly and mound them well above the rim. The apples collapse by about a third in the oven and an under-filled pie sinks into a hollow.
9. Roll the remaining dough, cut it into strips, and lay them over in a lattice, pressing the ends firmly into the rim.
10. Brush the lattice with beaten egg.
11. Bake at 175°C (345°F) for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, until deep golden and a skewer meets soft apple.
12. Cool completely in the tin before releasing it, which takes several hours. Cut warm, it collapses.
13. Serve at room temperature with a great deal of whipped cream.
14. An apple pie recipe appears in a Dutch cookbook of about 1514, and the tall lattice-topped pie shows up in seventeenth-century still-life paintings.

Technique

• Use a firm tart apple that holds its shape, such as Goudreinet or Bramley. A soft eating apple turns to sauce.
• The pastry is closer to a sweet shortcrust than a pie crust, and it is pressed in rather than rolled for the base.
• It is a café cake as much as a dessert, eaten in the afternoon with coffee.

Substitutions

• Semolina in place of breadcrumbs, which does the same job.
• Cognac or apple juice for soaking the raisins instead of rum.

Variations

• With a crumble topping instead of a lattice, sold as appelkruimeltaart.
• With currants and chopped almonds through the filling.
• Made in a shallower tin, which is quicker and considerably less impressive.

History

An apple pie recipe appears in a Dutch cookbook of about 1514, and the tall lattice-topped pie appears in seventeenth-century still-life paintings.

Frequently asked questions

What is Dutch apple pie?

Dutch apple pie is a dessert from Netherlands: tall cinnamon apple pie with lattice, whipped cream. An apple pie recipe appears in a Dutch cookbook of about 1514, and the tall lattice-topped pie appears in seventeenth-century still-life paintings.

How long does Dutch apple pie take to make?

Dutch apple pie takes 40 min plus 1 hr chilling of preparation and 1 hr 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 tall pie, 12 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Dutch apple pie?

Yes, within limits. Semolina in place of breadcrumbs, which does the same job. Cognac or apple juice for soaking the raisins instead of rum.

What is the most important thing to get right in Dutch apple pie?

Build it tall. An appeltaart is a deep straight-sided pie packed with apple rather than a shallow tart, and the sides have to come all the way up.