The Core Facts

Overall verdict: The best apple pie so far: pastry that is soft with a sweet crunch and beautifully soft apple that tasted more appley than any other pie to date.
Timings: 45 mins + 1 hour chilling + 50 minutes bake
Sugar: 135g
Butter: 300g
Type of apple: Bramley, Braeburn, Granny Smith

The Long Peel

I got this apple pie recipe from Jamie Oliver on The Times website, although I believe it’s originally from his Comfort Food book. I really recommend it – it’s a fantastic apple pie that is reasonably easy to make and delicious to eat.

The Pastry

Jamie’s pastry was unexpectedly successful. I put the flour, sugar, salt and chunks of butter into the food processor and then added 150ml of ice-cold water as instructed. This seemed like a lunatic amount of water and the dough was indeed very sticky when I pulled it out of the bowl.

But after an hour in the fridge it had become perfect pastry. It was smooth and easy to roll out – it even looked a bit shop bought.

The Apples

I love Jamie’s approach to the apples, as he basically leaves it up to you. His instructions say “2kg apples (I like a mixture of bramley, russet, braeburn, cox and good old granny smith)”. He’s giving you ideas but he trusts you to make the right decision.

I used what I had: Bramley, Braeburn and Granny Smith. Once you’ve chosen your apples, the prep is a bit more involved than some other recipes. First, he asks you to cut two types of chunk: some are rough chunks and some are 1cm pieces. Then the larger pieces are cooked in a mixture of muscovado sugar, butter and cinnamon for 10 minutes before you add the smaller pieces for 4 minutes.

The Bake

Jamie says 50-60 minutes. I went for 50 and it was perfectly done.

The Dish

Jamie specifies a 26cm pie dish and mine was only 23cm. I thought the amount of apple and pastry was perfect though, so I’m going to claim my way was better.

The Hot Slice

A thing of beauty.

The Rested Result

It’s such a great apple pie. The bottom of the pie looks thin because of all of the apple – in fact it sliced and held nicely.

If We Repeeled

• I’d maybe try including some sweeter apples, such as Pink Lady

Scores

Simplicity of bake: A bit of apple prep but nothing too complex
Pastry texture: Melt-in-the-mouth soft with presence and a sweet crunch topping
Pastry taste: Buttery with the sweet topping
Apple texture: Soft but still discernibly apple
Apple taste: Sharp and appley – really strong apple flavours
Apple to pastry ratio: Perfect
Overall score: 10/10