| The final step towards completing your pie is rolling out the dough, filling the pie, attaching the top crust and putting it in the oven. This step just takes a couple minutes.Set aside the peeled and sliced apple mix and find the following: rolling pin, pie mat, pastry brush and a couple tablespoons of flour with which to dust the mat and the pin. It would be good to have your pie plate ready as well! |  The rolling pin. Great for pies, historically useful for hand-to-hand combat. |
| 1. Dust the entire pie mat with an even, thin layer of flour. Same for the rolling pin. | |
| 2. Retrive one of the dough “discs” from the refrigerator. Place it in the center of the mat and roll out the dough, from the center outward, keeping it in a circular shape.Helpful Hint: Lift the rolling pin, bring it back to the center and roll it towards the edges, changing the angle 45 degress with each stroke. It’s important not to rock back and forth. |  |
| 3. Gently pick up the dough, turn it over and continue rolling. Do this several times as the dough becomes thinner, covering more of the pie mat. Use more flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to the mat or rolling pin. |  |
| 4. The diamater of the dough should be an inch larger than the pie plate you plan to use – a bit more if the plate is deep. It should be about 1/8 inch thick. |
| 5. Transfer the dough to the pie plate. This can be done a couple of ways. One is to fold the dough in half, then lift it up and place it across the pie plate center, and unfold. The other is to roll the dough around your pin and un-roll over the plate as shown here. |  |
| 6. With your fingers, gently press the dough into the bottom of the pie plate and trim the edge of the dough with a knife, leaving about 1/2 an inch over the rim of the plate. |   |
| 7. Spoon the cinnamon apple mixture into the pie plate. Use your hand or spoon to pack the apples in. The apples should form a mound, at least 1/2 higher than the edge of the plate. The apples will cook down.Helpful Hint: If you find yourself short of sliced apples at this point, don’t panic. Get a couple more apples; peel, cut, sprinkle a little sugar on them and put them on top. Easy fix! |
| 8. Time for the top crust! Get the other dough disc out of the refrigerator and repeat steps 1-4. The top should be the same size and thickness as the bottom. Before you put it on top of the pie do step 9. |  |
| 9. You should still have the remains of the egg/water mixture somwhere. If not whisk up some more. Use the pastry brush to apply a layer of moisture to the edge of the pastry crust in the pie plate. This provides a better edge seal with the top. (See 11, below.) |
| 10. In the same manner as before, transfer the top dough to the pie, and trim the excess dough around the edges, leaving about 1/2 an inch. If there are gaps or cracks in either the top or bottom crust, you can use the excess dough to patch it up. Here we are using the fold-unfold method to transfer the dough. |  |
| 11. Join the top and bottom crust edges by pressing them together with your fingers and roll it under, against the top edge of the pie plate. Crimp the edge, making a wavy pattern. It looks good and helps keep the juices in. |  |
| 12. Cut small slits into the top, or poke small holes with a fork to allow the steam to escape. (Another chance to be creative!) |  |
| 13. STOP! Important! At this point place the entire pie in the refrigerator. That’s right, not the oven. Cool it there for 10 – 15 minutes. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. |
| 14. Final step! Remove the chilled pie from the refrigerator and use the pastry brush to completely coat the top with the last of the egg/water mixture. Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar. |  |
| 15. Into the oven! Bake at 425 degrees f for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400 and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes for a total of 40-45 minutes.Helpful Hint: If your pie plate is deep, or your apples appeared hard, that’s OK. Leave the pie in for another 5 minutes. You can test it by inserting a skewer or knife. Apples should be cooked, not hard. Place foil over the pie to keep the crust from burning. |  |
| Congratulations! ……uh…..you might want to let it cool first …..! | Hot out of the oven! …Yum !!! |
