Should I cook apples before putting them in my pie?

Adding raw apples to pie can cause it to have a big gap between the crust and the filling when it's baked since the apples will shrink a little as they bake. When you cook , or “pre-heat” the apple mixture before filling your pie crust you will eliminate the gap. See the notes in the recipe section for more info.

How do you keep the bottom crust of apple pie from getting soggy?

When baking a juicy fruit pie, a thin layer of crust dust (equal parts granulated sugar and flour) inside the bottom of the pie crust before adding the filling will prevent the crust from becoming too saturated with juicy filling and getting soggy.

What are the best apples for making pie?

Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, and Jonagold are some of the best apples to use for a homemade apple pie.

What apples are not good for pie?

Red Delicious, Fuji, Gala won’t hold up when baked and make a very mushy pie.

Why should you use tart apples instead of sweet apples for pie?

Since there is typically a lot of sugar in an apple pie, using a tart apple will give you a better balance of flavors. In our family-wide taste test, everyone preferred tart apples like Honeycrisp or Granny Smith over sweet apples like Golden Delicious.

Can you leave an apple pie out overnight?

According to the USDA , you can store fruit pies like apple pie at room temperature for 2 days. The sugar and acid in the pie will act as a short-term preservative. After that, it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

Why do you have to let apple pie sit for so long after it’s baked?

Resting gives the starches in the filling (and also the crust if it’s gluten free) a chance to solidify and set so the pie will hold together once you cut into it. If you cut into a fruit pie when it’s too hot, the filling will gush out into a puddle.

Best Homemade Gluten Free Apple Pie Recipe With Flaky Crust

Ingredients

Scale

Apple pie filling ingredients:

8 cups sliced apples - this will be roughly 6 medium apples
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter - salted or unsalted is fine

Plus one of these thickeners. Either -

2 tablespoons gluten free flour blend,
2 tablespoons cornstarch, OR
2 tablespoons instant tapioca pearls

Other ingredients needed:

One recipe of my gluten free pie crust
Crust dust - equal parts granulated sugar and gluten free flour
Egg and water for an egg wash.
Sugar to sprinkle on the crust (coarse sugar looks especially nice)

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Instructions

Peel and slice the apples to equal 8 cups.
In a large bowl, add apple slices, brown sugar, cinnamon, and one of the thickener ingredients of your choice. Toss to coat.
Precook the filling: Heat the filling in a large saucepan along with the butter cut into small pieces, over medium to medium-low heat. Stir gently for 5-10 minutes until the apples are still firm but no longer crunchy.
Remove from heat, put back in the bowl, and chill until cool.
Roll out the pie dough as the crust recipe suggests.
Line the pan with dough and press it in gently.
Add a thin layer of crust dust.
Add the cooled filling.
Roll out the top crust, adding vents as desired. Cover the filling and crimp the edges. Chill the finished pie in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 350℉.
Set the pie on a cookie sheet lined with foil to catch any spills that may happen as it bakes. Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle the crust with sugar.
Bake at 350℉ for 50 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and an internal thermometer reads 200℉
Let cool completely before serving. This is important so the filling and the gluten free crust can set - that way it won’t be crumbly or runny!

Notes

Remember these Tips for the Best Apple Pie

Cook the apple pie filling first. Cooking evaporates excess water so the crust won’t get soggy. Also raw apples in a pie tend to turn mushy as they bake. Apples contain a natural enzyme that, when heated, changes that pectin into a heat stable form which allows the apples to cook thoroughly as they bake without turning mushy.

Slice the apples fairly thin so they will cook all the way through. Thick chunks of apple leave room for more air pockets, where steam will collect during baking. Then when the steam escapes it leaves gaps between the apples and the crust.

Include the thickener - this would be flour or cornstarch or tapioca. I like to add butter too - this adds richness in much the same way that adding butter to gravy gives the perfect finish. It creates a really smooth and velvety gel.

Make sure the filling is cold when you add it to the pie crust. Crust should stay cold right up until you put it in the oven, otherwise the warm filling could make the crust soggy on the bottom. Cold pie crust will also start to become flaky as soon as it hits that hot oven.

Chill the pie dough before rolling it out, and again after filling the pie while you heat up the oven. Chilling the dough gives the gluten free flours time to get hydrated. Gluten free flour doesn’t absorb liquids very well so it needs more time than regular wheat based flour to soak up the liquids - the egg and water. Chilling also lets the dough relax and be less stiff when you roll it out. The dough might initially be stiff because the butter is cold, but the chilling time allowed the liquids/moisture in the dough to slowly work their way all the way through the parts of the dough evenly, so it will be much more elastic. So after letting it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, it should be ready to roll out. A well hydrated pie dough with well-developed elasticity will roll out well, and won’t shrink as it bakes.

Author: beneficialbento
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Category: dessert
Method: bake
Diet: Gluten Free