The Core Facts

Overall verdict: This is the apple tart I’ve been looking for. The simplest pastry with the simplest apples, baked to perfection. There is very little sugar in it, so it might not be to everyone’s taste. But I loved it.
Timings: 20 mins prep + 60 mins chilling pastry + 35 mins bake
Sugar: Only a fistful to sweeten the apples
Butter: 125g
Type of apple: Bramley

The Long Peel

I’m not sure you’ll find an easier apple pie recipe than this traditional apple tart from Eunice Power. I think the secret to its success is the amount of apple – she uses 4 large cooking apples – with the simplicity of the pastry.

The Pastry

I had set up the food processor before I realised Eunice suggests a manual approach to making the pastry (although at the bottom of the recipe it says “or use food processor”).

Like the Jamie Oliver apple pie recipe, Eunice asks for 150ml of water. Because it worked for Jamie’s recipe, I did it and trusted that it would work, even though it seemed like a lot. It did work.

The Apples

Eunice asks for four large cooking apples, so I used Bramleys. However, I couldn’t actually fit all of the apple slices into the dish so I ended up throwing away about 1/2 an apple.

I’ve noticed that the cooked apple has been hard in some of my recent bakes – for example the Bill Yosses apple pie recipe – and I think the reason for that lies in the word ‘wedge’. Wedges of apple don’t soften as nicely as slices.

The only addition to the apples is sugar. Eunice doesn’t specify how much sugar – she just says to sprinkle it on, which is how I remember my mum making tarts. I used a fairly hefty fistful.

The Bake

I was convinced that 35 minutes would not be enough for this pie. The apple was piled up under the pastry lid and I just couldn’t see how it would melt down in time. But it worked perfectly.

The Dish

Eunice doesn’t give details on what size of dish she wants you to use. She just says “an oven proof plate”. But you need room for 4 large cooking apples, so I think my 23cm dish was fine.

The Hot Slice

Eunice’s apple tart sliced really nicely. My only error was folding the pastry over the edge of the dish instead of just trimming it off with a knife – this caused it to stick slightly.

The Rested Result

You can clearly see the abundance of soft apple here, with the flakiness of the pastry:

If We Repeeled

• I’d add a tiny bit more sugar to the apple and maybe to the top of the tart

Scores

Simplicity of bake: Simple
Pastry texture: Lovely – crumbly but sturdy with crispness on the crust
Pastry taste: Solid pastry shell for the sharp/sweet apple
Apple texture: Gloriously soft
Apple taste: Sharp with an undertone of sweet
Apple to pastry ratio: Excellent – the best yet, with lots of apple and sturdy pastry
Overall score: 10 out of 10