The Core Facts

Overall verdict: An excellent apple pie – light and delicious pastry with full-on apple
Timings: An hour to prep properly + 35 minutes bake
Sugar: Approx 87g
Butter: 140g
Type of apple: Bramley & Pink Lady

The Long Peel

I got this Paul Hollywood apple pie recipe from his book Bake, although I think you can also find the same recipe on the Daily Mail website.

The Pastry

I’m a big fan of using icing sugar in pastry, as Paul does in this one. It seems to make the pastry feel that bit lighter and softer to the touch. He doesn’t give a definitive time for chilling – it just goes in the fridge while you prepare the apple.

Paul suggests putting 2 tablespoons of custard powder over the pastry base before spooning the apple on top of it. Unfortunately, my custard powder was out of date so I left it out but it gives a nice flavour apparently.

The Apples

The main quirk in this recipe is that Paul instructs you to make apple stock by boiling all the apple peel and cores. This only takes 15 minutes and I was quite surprised at how ‘apple-y’ the water had become in that time. Only a little bit of the stock actually goes into the pie.

Another change to the norm is that he recommends using two types of apple. Two Bramleys are sliced and then pre-cooked with sugar and a cinnamon stick. Two Pink Ladies are then sliced and then added to the Bramleys just before the apple mixture goes into the pie.

It’s hard to say if either of these quirks had a significant impact but what I can tell you is that the apple in the finished product was one of the best yet. It was quite tart – not sour exactly but you you definitely got a Bramley tone.

The Bake

Paul recommends a sprinkling of caster sugar on top of the eggwash before it goes into the oven. I’ve been a fan of this idea ever since I tried Neven Maguire’s apple tart – he also recommends it for crunch as well as some final sweetness.

The Dish

Paul recommends a 24cm pie plate. I was using my usual 23cm pie dish so I’m going to call that a draw.

The Hot Slice

I let this one settle for 30 minutes (I’ve decided to do the same for all the pies/tarts, following the advice in the Raymond Blanc apple tart recipe.) It was immediately obvious that this was one of the best pies so far. The next day it sliced up really neatly – it definitely looks the part:

The Rested Result

The pastry held together well and it looked very tempting:

If We Repeeled

• I would bake for another 2-3 minutes for perfection
• I would use custard powder as Paul suggests

Scores

Simplicity of bake: A few extra steps compared with other recipes
Pastry texture: Excellent – it held together well while also having a slightly crumbly texture when eaten
Pastry taste: Excellent
Apple texture: Soft but still discernibly slices of apple
Apple taste: Very, very apple-y with a stronger sense of tartness/sourness than I’ve encountered in other recipes
Apple to pastry ratio: It felt spot on
Overall score: 9