Apple Crumb Pie

Wheat and Gluten Free Baking with Teff - This pie is pure sweet indulgence.

Filling
5 large apples (such as Rome, Macintosh, or Cortland)
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon kudzu or arrowroot
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Optional: Simmer apples in a little water to make apple sauce and omit the kudzu.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Mix up the pie crust and reserve (do not bake) 1/2 cup of pie dough for crumb topping. Press the remainder of the dough into lightly oiled pie pan. Poke holes in the dough with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes.

While crust is baking, thinly slice apples. Place them in a 2 quart sauce pan with 1/4 cup water and a pinch of sea salt. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the apples are tender and juicy. Dissolve kudzu in 1/4 cup cold water. Stir it into the cooked apples. Add and stir in the cinnamon. Taste it, and adjust the seasonings if desired. You can add more cinnamon or sweetening. Then, pour filling into the baked pie crust. Crumble remaining teff dough on top. Bake for 10 minutes or until crumbs turn a slightly darker brown.

Improvisations

  1. You can change the filling: Simmer 1/2 cup of raisins, 3 sliced apples, and 2 thinly sliced pears with a pinch of sea salt. As above, add cinnamon and diluted Kudzu or arrowroot.
  2. You can use a combination of apples and peaches
  3. PEACH CRUMB PIE
    • Substitute 5 fresh, sliced, peaches for apples. You can simmer the peaches as with the apples or add them fresh to the baked pie crust. Crumble remaining dough on top of peaches. Bake for 10 minutes or until the peaches are tender.
  4. BLUEBERRY CRUMB PIE
    • Rinse 2 cups of blueberries. Add them to baked crust. Crumble remaining dough on top of blueberries. Bake for 10 minutes.

Dessert Pie Crust
Without rolling or refrigerating, this pie crust is quick and simply delicious.

2 cups teff flour
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup unrefined corn oil or canola oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine ingredients and form into a dough. Press dough with your fingers into a lightly oiled pie plate. Poke holes in the dough with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes; add filling.

From Leslie Cerier's cookbook, Going Wild in the Kitchen (2005, Square One Publishers)