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–+ servings
A freshly baked lattice-top gooey apple pie sits on a wooden surface, with whole apples and a folded towel nearby. The golden-brown, flakey crust glistens with sugar crystals, and the rich filling is visible through the delicate lattice pattern.
This is my best apple pie recipe, hands down! It has a thick, gooey filling that stays clear and glossy. The secret? Diced apples, potato starch, and cooking the filling on the stovetop first. Cook it now!

Equipment

  • Plastic wrap
  • Rolling Pin
  • 9-inch pie pan

Ingredients 

Pie Dough (makes 2 crusts)

  • 385 g all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
  • 28 g sugar (about 2 tablespoons)
  • 2 pinches fine salt
  • 285 g butter cold, not frozen, cut into cubes of different sizes (about 1 ¼ cups)
  • 115 g water ice cold (about ⅔ cup)
  • 1 tbsp vodka vinegar is fine replacement

Apple Pie Filling

  • 6 cups diced apples half granny smith apples, half honeycrisp apples, about 6 medium apples
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp salted butter
  • 4 tbsp potato starch
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • ⅛ tsp ground ginger
  • ⅛ tsp ground allspice
  • 1 pinch ground cloves a very tiny pinch (just your index finger and thumb)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2½ cups water
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
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Instructions

Prep

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

Make pie dough

  1. In a liquid measuring cup, add ice and the fill up with water (about 1 cup) and add the vodka. Don't weigh anything right now. This is just to get the water-vodka mixture super cold before you weigh it.
    1 tbsp vodka
  2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, salt.
    385 g all-purpose flour, 28 g sugar, 2 pinches fine salt
  3. Add cubes of butter and toss until all of the butter is coated.
    285 g butter
  4. Using your hands, gently flatten the pieces of butter into the flour. You want some pieces between the size of a marble and a grape and some completely flattened.
    5. Larger pieces of butter create flakes and layers while smaller pieces make it tender.
  5. Once your mixture has about 50/50 large pieces to flat pieces of butter massaged into the flour, weigh or measure out the water.
    115 g water
  6. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Don't pour all of the water at once. Start by pouring in about ½ cup of the vodka-water mixture. Use a fork and gently work the flour into the water until it is mostly hydrated.
  7. Add 1-2 tbsp of water to the drier parts of the dough at a time, mixing in between.
  8. Repeat 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough has reached a shaggy consistency.
    9. You likely won't need the full ⅔ cup of liquid. If you can grab a handful of dough, press it together, and it holds, you've added enough liquid.
  9. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and gently knead until it holds together.
  10. Press the dough into a square, about 1½ inches thick, and then cut it in half lengthwise.
  11. Cut the two halves into 4 quarters each.
  12. Create 2 stacks, each 4 quarters high.
  13. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap. Set a stack of dough in the center and wrap loosely. Repeat for the second stack.
  14. Use a rolling pin and roll out the covered dough until it is about 1½ inches thick. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days.
    15. Rolling out dough after wrapping it in plastic wrap helps it form without the edges turning into a mess or cracking. The plastic wrap acts as a mold.

Make pie filling

  1. In a medium saucepan, toss apples with lemon juice.
    6 cups diced apples, 1 tbsp lemon juice
  2. In a separate medium bowl, whisk sugars, potato starch, salt, and spices together.
    ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, 4 tbsp potato starch, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp nutmeg, ⅛ tsp ground ginger, ⅛ tsp ground allspice, 1 pinch ground cloves, ½ tsp salt
  3. Add the mixture to the apples. Add the water and stir to combine. Turn on the heat to medium and heat until glossy and bubbling.
    2½ cups water
  4. Cook about 10–15 min until thick and gooey. Stir in butter and vanilla. Cool slightly.
    2 tbsp salted butter, 1 tsp vanilla extract
    A pot filled with cooked apple pie filling sits on rolled-out dough. A black spoon rests in the pot. Nearby, a pizza cutter and an offset spatula are placed on a parchment-lined wooden surface.

Roll out bottom pie crust

  1. Remove 1 disc of pie dough from the refrigerator. Unwrap and place on a clean work surface dusted lightly with flour. Dust the top side of the dough lightly with flour.
  2. Roll out the dough into a circle about ⅛- ¼ inch thick. You might have to dust the surface lightly with flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking.
  3. Fold one-third of the dough into the center.
  4. Fold the other one-third over the top.
  5. Fold the shape in half by taking one end and folding it over to the other.
  6. Roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle about ⅛- ¼ inch thick. You might have to dust the surface lightly with flour to keep the rolling pin from sticking.
    7. Test the width of your pie dough by placing your pie pan upside down on the parchment. The pie dough should extend about 2-3 inches past the edges.
  7. Transfer the dough to the pie pan.
    8. To transfer the dough without it tearing, place a rolling pin at one edge and roll the dough around the rolling pin like a scroll of paper.
  8. Cut the excess dough to about ½ inch of excess.
  9. Fold the edges under so the pie dough edge rests on the pan edge. Place in the freezer while you prep the lattice crust.

Make the lattice crust

  1. Roll out the top crust using the same method of rolling into a 12-inch circle, completing the letter fold, and then rolling out into a 12-inch circle again.
  2. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the dough into strips about 1"-1 ½" wide. For a standard 9-inch pie, you’ll usually want 8-10 strips.
    A hand uses a large knife to cut pastry dough that is rolled flat on parchment paper, with a wooden surface partially visible on the right side.

Assemble

  1. Remove the pie dough from the freezer. Add the filling.
  2. Start with the longest strip of pie dough - lay it straight down the center of the pie. Place additional strips parallel to it, using shorter pieces toward the edges and medium-length pieces in between, spaced about ¾ to 1 inch apart. Make sure all strips run in the same direction.
    An unbaked pie with a lattice crust sits on a wooden surface. The filling appears to be a fruit mixture, likely apple, and the lattice strips are unevenly spaced and slightly rough at the edges.
  3. To start weaving, fold back every other vertical strip halfway across the pie. (Think: fold back strips 1, 3, 5, etc.)
  4. Take another long strip and lay it across the pie horizontally, right over the center.
  5. Then unfold the folded strips back down over the horizontal strip. Now you’ve made the first woven cross.
  6. Next, fold back the other set of vertical strips (the ones you didn’t fold the first time).
  7. Lay down a second horizontal strip about ¾ to 1 inch above the first one. Unfold the strips back over it.
  8. Repeat the process and continue weaving: fold back alternating strips, add a new horizontal strip, unfold back over it.
  9. Work your way up to the top of the pie, then repeat going down toward the bottom until the lattice is complete.
  10. Once the lattice is finished, trim excess dough to about a ½-inch overhang
  11. Press the lattice ends into the edges of the bottom crust and press together to seal
  12. Crimp the edges however you like: finger pinch, fork press, rope braid style or leave as-is.
    Two hands are crimping the edge of an unbaked lattice pie crust on a wooden surface. The pie dough is being pinched to create a decorative border.
  13. Brush the lattice with egg wash.

Bake

  1. Place a pie shield or aluminum foil on the edge of the crust to prevent burning.
  2. Bake at 400°F for 25 min.
  3. Remove the pie shield and bake at 375°F for 35-45 min.
  4. Cool the pie for 3 hours before slicing for the best set.

Notes

Vodka vs. Vinegar: Vodka produces a more tender, flaky pie crust than vinegar. Vinegar is still a great substitute if that's what you have, but vodka makes the best pie dough.
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