Baking

Apple Pie

Name: Apple Pie
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 sheets shortcrust pastry; 6 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced; 100 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar; 1 tbsp plain flour; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 1 egg, beaten, for glaze; 1 tbsp demerara sugar

Serves 8 Prep 30 mins Cook 45 mins Total 1 hour 15 mins

Apple Pie is a baking staple we keep on Scoops & Dishes because it rewards a clear metric method: grams and millilitres, Australian cups (250 ml), and steps you can follow without scrolling past a novel. Serves 8 with about 30 mins prep and 45 mins cook time (around 1 hour 15 mins total). That is a home estimate — ovens and pans vary, so use colour and texture as well as the clock. Key building blocks: sheets shortcrust pastry, granny smith apples and caster sugar. If you need a substitute, change one thing at a time and expect the texture notes below to matter more than the timer. Good for weekend baking sessions and school-lunch tin fillers. One tray or tin as written — freeze extras in airtight bags. Keep Australian cup measures (250 ml) so the ratios match what we tested on the page. Everything on this page is metric-first for Australia. If you are converting from cups on an old card, weigh flour, sugar, and butter whenever the ingredient line shows grams.

Ingredients

2 sheets shortcrust pastry
6 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
100 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 egg, beaten, for glaze
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a pie dish with one pastry sheet.
Toss apples with sugar, flour, spices and lemon juice. Fill the pie.
Top with second sheet, crimp edges, cut steam vents. Brush with egg and sprinkle demerara.
Bake 40–45 minutes until golden. Cool slightly before slicing.

Tip: A mix of tart and sweet apples gives the best filling.

Notes

Method rhythm: step one is “Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a pie dish with one pastry sheet.”. Do not skip resting, cooling, or draining steps if they appear later — they are usually there for texture. The finish is “Bake 40–45 minutes until golden. Cool slightly before slicing.”. Taste before you plate; salt at the end often needs a final pinch.
Before the heat goes on, line up sheets shortcrust pastry, granny smith apples and caster sugar and anything perishable from the list. Soften butter, bring eggs off the fridge if the method needs them room-temp, and preheat so you are not waiting mid-recipe. For a baking cook of this size (8), a clear bench saves more time than any gadget.
From our tested tip, expanded: A mix of tart and sweet apples gives the best filling. Treat that as the non-negotiable. If something still feels off — too wet, too pale, too tight — adjust one variable at a time (heat, liquid, or bake time) rather than changing three things at once.
Putting it together for Apple Pie: work clean, taste as you go, and do not rush browning or reduction steps if they appear in the method. If you are cooking for mixed diets, plate sauces and toppings separately where practical. Keep this page bookmarked if it becomes a household regular — we update wording when cooks report a confusing step. Metric consistency across Scoops & Dishes means once you trust the cups and scales here, breakfast through dessert behaves the same way.