Milopita: Niki Louca shares her mum’s recipe for apple pie

Niki Louca from My Greek Kitchen shares her favourite recipe for milopita (apple pie) with The Greek Herald. You can follow her on Instagram @mygreekkitchen for more!

Niki’s mum has been making this apple pie recipe for as long as she can remember.

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 3 ½ cups plain pastry flour
• ¾ cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1-2 tbsp cold water

For the apples:

• 2 kg apples (I use a combination of golden delicious, pink lady, royal gala or red delicious)
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 2tsp ground cinnamon
• 60 gm butter

Method

1. First prepare your apples. Peel and core and slice them into approximately ½ cm thickness.
2. Melt your 60gm of butter in a heavy based saucepan on medium low heat, and then add your peeled, cored and sliced apples. Add your sugar and cinnamon. Stir through. Keep your heat on medium low and allow the sugar to melt and mix with the cinnamon. The juices from the apples will slightly caramelise the sugar giving it a golden toffee colour. You want the apples to cook but to still keep their shape and some bite. You don’t want them to go mushy. Can take 20-30 minutes. Once cooked set aside to cool completely.
3. In a food processor add your flour and butter and blend until you get a breadcrumb/sand like mixture.  You can do this by hand but it is much quicker with a food processor.
4. Add your 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, the sugar and 1 tbsp water to the mixture while the food processor is running. If the dough is still rather tough, add another tablespoon of water. Adjust accordingly until you get a smooth and soft dough. Dough should not be sticky. Remove from the food processor and roll into a disc. Wrap with glad wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two.
5. Once your dough has rested, it is ready to be rolled out. Firstly, preheat your oven to 170C fan force.  You will need a baking dish of approx. 35 x 20cm. My mum uses a glass Pyrex dish for this but I have used 2 or 3 smaller dishes and have frozen one of them for future use. If you are using smaller dishes you can divide mixture and dough for 2 x 20cm pie dishes.
6. Divide your dough in half if using the one big dish. Roll out pastry big enough to cover the base of your dish and the sides. Gently transfer pastry from your benchtop to the dish, making sure the base and sides are covered. Gently spoon your cooked and cooled apples into the dish with the pastry.
7. Now roll out the other half of your pastry to cover your pie making sure it’s all the way to the edges. Cut excess pastry off with a sharp knife and then crimp the edges to make sure is seals properly. Use your thumb and fore finger from one hand and the fore finger of the other to crimp pastry. Otherwise you can use a fork to seal it. You can use any excess pastry to create whatever decorations you like. Brush the pie with egg wash and sprinkle with some sugar. Bake in the middle rack, preheated oven till golden brown – if the top browns too quickly cover it with foil as to make sure the base is also cooked. You do not want a soggy bottom.
8. Serve with some ice cream or double thick cream.

Niki Louca runs cooking classes in Melbourne. For more or to book classes visit My Greek Kitchen at www.mygreekkitchen.com.au or Instagram @mygreekkitchen. You can email Niki at: niki@mygreekkitchen.com.au.