Apple Pie with Custard

Ingredients

• 1 egg yolk (for glaze)
• 300g plain flour
• about 3 tbsp cold water
• 25g caster sugar
• 175g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 100g caster sugar (for filling)
• 700g Bramley apples, peeled and sliced
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 egg yolks
• 500ml whole milk
• 100ml double cream
• 60g caster sugar (for custard)
• 1 vanilla pod

Method

1. Rub the cold cubed butter into the flour, 25g sugar and a good pinch of salt with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs — work quickly so the butter stays cold and the pieces stay distinct. Those tiny butter shards are what give you flake. Add the cold water a tablespoon at a time, bringing the dough together with a knife until it just clumps; press into a disc, wrap, and chill for at least 20 minutes until firm.
2. Heat the oven to 200°C fan (220°C conventional). Toss the sliced Bramley apples with the 100g sugar, cinnamon, the lemon juice and cornflour until every slice is glossy and evenly coated — the lemon juice keeps the apples bright and stops them turning beige under the lid.
3. Roll two-thirds of the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 3mm thick and line a 23cm pie dish, letting the pastry overhang the rim. Heap in the apple filling, pressing gently to settle the slices and close any large gaps — air pockets collapse in the oven and leave you with a hollow lid. Roll the remaining pastry for the lid, drape it over, trim, and crimp the edges firmly to seal.
4. Brush the lid with beaten egg yolk for a deep glossy finish and cut two small vents in the top to let the steam escape. Bake for 45–50 minutes until the pastry is a rich golden-brown and you can see the filling bubbling thickly through the vents — that bubbling is the cornflour activating, and without it the juices stay thin. If the edges colour too quickly, loosely tent with foil.
5. While the pie bakes, make the custard. Split the vanilla pod, scrape the seeds into a pan with the milk, cream, pod and a small pinch of salt — the salt sharpens the vanilla and stops the custard tasting flat-sweet. Warm gently until steaming with a few bubbles at the edge; don't let it boil or the milk catches. Whisk the egg yolks with the 60g sugar until pale, then slowly pour in a ladle of the hot milk, whisking constantly to temper — go too fast and you'll scramble the yolks. Tip the lot back into the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon in slow figures of eight, for 4–6 minutes until it thickly coats the back of the spoon and a finger drawn through leaves a clean line. Strain into a jug. Taste — adjust with another pinch of salt if it needs lifting.
6. Rest the pie for 10 minutes so the filling settles and the pastry crisps — cut too soon and the juices run everywhere. Cut into generous wedges, dust with the cinnamon sugar, and pour the warm vanilla custard over each plate at the table.