Granny's Apple Pie Recipe from Graham Kirkham

Continuing in our theme of Lancashire-centered recipes, we couldn't neglect to include a recipe for Apple Pie. For as Graham Kirkham himself says:

‘Apple pie without cheese, is like a kiss without a squeeze’.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients
Pastry
225g Berkley Farm butter, very chilled
2 Cacklebean eggs, beaten
350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

Filling
700g cooking apples
150g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 Cacklebean egg, beaten
A very small splash of Ivyhouse Farm milk

Method
Grate the butter into the flour, dipping it into the flour regularly to prevent it sticking to the grater. Swiftly rub the flour and butter together by hand to form a breadcrumb texture. Work as quickly as possible, making an effort to avoid introducing heat to the mix, or overworking it. Add the eggs, one by one, pulling the mix together with a fork (to avoid the heat of your hands affecting the pastry texture). Once it forms a dough, turn out on to a piece of floured baking parchment and flatten into a round, then wrap and chill for 1 hour, or overnight, if possible.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Combine the beaten egg and milk to make an egg wash. 
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 3mm. Use a little less than two thirds of the pastry to line a 23cm diameter round tin (it's important to use a tin not a ceramic pie dish as the latter won't heat the same way, resulting in soggy pastry). Roll the remaining third to a circle to fit the tin as a lid. 

Peel, core and dice the apples into 2cm chunks and place in the pastry case. Sprinkle with sugar. Brush a little egg wash around the pastry rim and lay the pastry lid over the apples, pressing the pastry edges together with a fork to seal. Use the leftover pastry to make shapes to decorate the top, again a dab of egg wash can be used as glue. Brush egg wash over the pastry. Bake in the oven for 45-60 min, until the apples are tender and the pastry is a rich golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar and serve with a slab of Kirkham’s Lancashire.