This recipe is from a new cookbook we love, Pie All The Time by Taylor Harbin. Taylor used Flourist flour in the development of her recipes, you can even spot a photo of a bag or two in there.
Taylor likes to think of a Pandowdy as the pie version of a cobbler. The fruit is intensely flavourful and the rye pastry is flaky and delicious!
Rye Pastry Dough
Makes enough for 2 Pandowdy's
Ingredients:
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp (10 ml) apple cider vinegar
8–10 tbsp (120–150 ml) ice water, or more, divided
2 cups (250 g) Flourist Sifted Red Fife Flour
2 cups (200 g) Flourist Whole Grain Rye Flour
2 tsp (10 g) sea salt
1 cup (224 g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1⁄2-inch (1.3-cm) cubes
Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the egg yolks, vinegar and 8 tablespoons (120 ml) of the ice water, and set it aside. In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose and rye flours and salt. Add the butter, and toss to coat the cubes in the flour mixture. Using your hands, pinch the pieces of butter between your thumbs and pointer fingers to flatten them into thin shards of butter, and toss them to fully coat the butter in the flour. Continue until all the butter has been flattened, working quickly to prevent the butter from getting too warm. Drizzle the egg mixture over the flour
mixture, and toss the mixture with your hands to incorporate the ingredients. Drizzle over the last 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) of ice water as needed, a little at a time, just until the dough comes together and is no longer dry and crumbly. You may not need all of the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml), depending on the humidity of the day, or you may need even a bit more.
You want to add just enough water for the dough to feel firmly held together and smooth rather than dry and crumbly, but not so much that it’s soft, wet and sticky to the touch.
Pat the dough out into a disc about an inch (2.5 cm) thick. Using a bench scraper or knife, slice the disc into quarters and stack the pieces on top of one another. Gently pat out the dough with your hands into a disc about an inch (2.5 cm) thick. Repeat the cutting and stacking once more. This process is going to give us all
those flaky layers.
Pat the dough into the size and shape called for in the pie recipe instructions, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for at least 2 hours or, ideally, overnight.
Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly before rolling it out.
Mulling Spice Apple Pandowdy
Ingredients:
1⁄2 recipe Rye Dough, patted into a disc
3 lbs (1.4 kg) apples, about 8–9, peeled, cored and cut into 1⁄4-inch (6-mm) slices (Gala and Granny Smith work well here)
2⁄3 cup (160 g) light brown sugar
3 tbsp (24 g) all-purpose flour
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3 tbsp (45 ml) rye whiskey
Big pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp ground ginger
1⁄4 tsp ground cloves
1 egg, lightly beaten
Demerara sugar
Ice cream, for serving
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C), and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
On a well-floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 1⁄4- to 1⁄8-inch (6- to 3 mm) thickness. Use a small cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut out small shapes, and lay them in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the fridge while you make the filling.
In a large bowl, stir to combine the apples, brown sugar, flour, orange zest, whiskey, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Pour the mixture into a 10-inch (25-cm) cast-iron or ovenproof skillet. It will look like too many apples, but they’ll cook down quite a bit. Use your hands to jigsaw them into even layers and make the top a fairly flat layer, as this will make it easier to place the dough pieces on top. Pull the baking sheet out of the fridge and arrange the dough pieces in a haphazard pattern, shingling the bits of dough so they overlap a bit on the top of the apple filling. Be sure the filling is covered. Brush the dough with the beaten egg, and sprinkle it with the demerara sugar.
Place the skillet on the prepared baking sheet, and bake the pandowdy for 50 to 55 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is deep golden brown. Cool the pandowdy completely before serving. Ice cream is optional but recommended!
