apple pie

I always wanted to try this.. apple pie from scratch.. sounds tedious but believe me is simple and all your efforsts are worth it :)

It does not consume much of effort.. but does consume time!!.. wondering how is that possible.. yes it is.. time consuming but not effort consuming.. as most of the time that it consumes is in refrigerator and oven.. nothing much in your hands you see :)

here are the ingredients.. i took the recipe from a link i stumbled upon in search of it.. and added some improvisations to suit our taste buds :)

for crust:

• 2 cups of flour - 1cup of all purpose (maida) flour and 1 cup of wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1tbl spn butter, or a lil more but not melted (i used ghee, which was solid because of weather.. you may refrigerate ir for a while and then use)
• 5 tablespoons of cold water- i refrigerated water for some minutes
• 1 egg (for brushing, helps the surface get golden, i used milk instead)

for filling:

• 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2/3 cup of white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (i used jam instead see below)
• 1 and a half medium-sized apples (peeled and copped 1" pieces)
• 2 tsp mixed fruit jam (optional, the original recipe did not mention this, I used it as it had perfect flavor of cinnamon and fruits)
• crushed nuts and raisins

Place the flour, salt, and butter in a large bowl. With a pastry blender or fork, smash up the butter until it forms tiny balls with the flour. Then slowly add the cold water.

Knead with floured hands until a large dough ball forms. Split the ball in half and wrap one of the piece in plastic wrap. Place the wrapped dough in the refrigerator(freezer for 30min).

On a floured counter-top, begin to roll the rest half dough out into a think circle shapeed about the size, lil larger than pie pan(i used a wide glass bowl). Some people prefer to place a layer of plastic wrap on top of the dough as it's being rolled so that it doesn't stick to the rolling pin

place the rolled dough over the pan, being careful not to let it tear. Fit it into the pan, pressing it against all the sides

Place the pie shell in the refrigerator (freezer)

Make the filling. Peel and slice the apples into pieces about 1/8 of an inch thick or chop them into 1/2" cubes. Put them into a large bowl and mix with sugar, salt, lemon juice, flour, and cinnamon (again as i mentioned earlier I used 2 tsp of mixed fruit jam)shake over to cover the top of mixture. Place in refrigerator(freezer)

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Roll out the remaining ball of dough on a floured surface, just like you did before


cut it into 1" thin long strips .

Pour the filling into the pie shell, spreading it out with the back of a spoon. There should be enough filling to fill the entire pan and stack up above the edge at least an inch in the center


Brush the edges of the pie shell with milk


place the strips in criss cross fashion as shown in the pic  Cut out edges if they are long and make designs with fork while attaching strips to the base of crust.


Sprinkle milk over the top or brush the lattice with the egg wash. This will help to brown the crust. Dust sugar over the top crust for an extra touch


Bake at 400ºF (200ºC) for 15 minutes. Turn down the oven to 375ºF (190ºC) for 45 minutes.

Allow pie to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature before serving.

home baked pizza with tandoori paneer topping- Indian Ishtyle ;-)

1. in a mixing bowl take 1 cup warm water [luke warm..hot water will kill the yeast!!]

2.add 2tsp yeast [1tsp per cup of flour], add 2 tsp sugar and salt to taste, mix slightly add 1/4th cup of all purpose flour on top and set aside for 10-15 min..preferably in a warm place.

3. you will notice some froth on the yeast mixture..add 3/4 cup of all purpose flour and 1 cup of wheat flour [you may add entire all purpose flour alone.. but wheat flour is generally considered healthy and easy to digest] add 2 tsp of thick yogurt/curd knead to form a very sft dough. [dough tends to be sticky!] If the dough is tight you may add some water or milk to make it soft.

4. apply some oil on the surface of the dough, cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rest in a warm place for a minimum of 1 hr.

5. mean while marinate cubes of paneer, bell pepper, tomato and mushrooms in a mixture of 2tbl spn thick yogurt, 1/2tsp cumin pwder, 1/2 tsp corriander powder, 1/2tsp garam masala powder 1/2tsp crushed kasoori methi , 1/2 tsp chili powder and salt to taste. set aside for 30min

6. chop onions and slightly saute them add the marinated mixture and cook for a while.

7 prepare pizza sauce by blanching tomatoes and removing the skin. puree one peeled tomato and finely chop one more peeled tomato.

8  in a saucepan add smeolive oil [i used  normal vegetable canola oil :) but olive oil is preferable] add some chili powder, minced garlic, garam masala and chopped green bell pepper saute for a while.

9  add chopped tomatoes and tomato puree cook on a low flame for almost 20min, get the consistency of sauce to medium thick

10. once the dough is puffed up, punch in a lil to remove uneven air bubbles, knead a bit and set aside for another 10min

11. pre heat the oven to 400F-450F ..mean while on a work space spread some dry flour and roll the dough over it, place the mass of dough over round tava(flat pan) and spread to give the shape of the tava. Slightly heat the tava, with some ghee/butter applied on the dough, on small flame. make sure you just heat the base and slightly cook one side of it [the bottom side] while it is being heated add topings. spread the sauce first, you may mix some store bought tomato ketchup with it. Evenly spread the topings

[if you do not wish the tandoori paneer topping, feel free to add your own.. just raw pieces of onion, bell peppers, bla bla bla..your favs would be just fine]

12. add the greated cheese [i did not cos i already used paneer-lots and was happy with that],spread evenly, sprinkle some olive oil on top [again i used regular oil..big deal!! :)], gently brush some milk on the peripherals of the crust..to enhance rich brown color!

13  the tava can go in the oven if its oven safe along with the pizza.. which acts like pizza stone..else what i did was carefully shift it on a aluminium foil and place it over an inverted baking tray in the oven.

14  in 20 min or whn you notice the melted cheese turning brown at the crust.. you are ready to bring your pizza out of oven..:) let it cool for 10 min and then cut and enjoy munching home baked PIZZA..with all your fav sauce/ketch ups,

if you are interested in thin crust pizza.. thats coming up soon :)