Slab pie is a shallow, but large, rectangular pie baked in a rimmed baking sheet. It will feed a crowd, and for crust lovers, gives you more of the buttery, flaky top and bottom while still providing a juicy fruit filling. I went with an apple-raspberry combo for a few reasons. Apples have a long season and do overlap with fresh berries in late summer/early fall. For mid-winter, you can use late-season apples and frozen berries, so this pie can be made during many months of the year. Note that you need an extra-large batch of pie dough and also note the size of the pan.
Some slab-pie recipes use rimmed baking sheets that measure 18 inches by 13 inches and, since those are what we always have around and use for cookies, jelly-rolls etc., I tested the recipe with those first. I didn’t like the way the pies baked. The centers never quite got done and the bottom crust was soggy. I noticed that some recipes recommended using a 15-inch by 10-inch by 1-inch rimmed pan and the results were perfect. Although this might be a pan you have to buy for the slab pie, you can use it for cookies as well, so it is a multi-purpose pan and we highly recommend it for this recipe.
Images: Peter Muka
- 3¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into pieces
- ⅓ cup to ⅔ cup iced water
- 6 cups peeled, cored and sliced apples (from about 8 medium apples), such as a mix from Cortland, Golden Delicious, Macoun and Granny Smith
- 2, 6-ounce packages raspberries, fresh or frozen
- ⅔ cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon milk
- For the Crust: Put the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse on and off until it forms a very coarse meal; there might be pockets of butter that are larger, which is fine. Drizzle in the smaller amount of water through the feed tube and pulse until the dough is moistened and just holds together if squeezed. Add additional water only if necessary. Gather the dough into two balls, one slightly larger than the other, and flatten into rectangles. Wrap the doughs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Dough may also be frozen for 1 month, in which case, protect it further by placing in a zipper-top bag; defrost in the refrigerator overnight. Let the dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.
- For Assembly and the Filling: Position rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 15-inch by 10-inch by 1-inch rimmed baking pan with nonstick spray; set aside.
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the larger piece of dough to an 18-inch by 13-inch rectangle. Drape and center the dough in the pan; there will be overhang.
- Place the apples slices, berries, ⅔ cup sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and lemon juice in a large bowl and fold to combine. Scrape onto the crust.
- Roll out second dough to about 16 inches by 11 inches and center it on top of filling. Use a scissors to evenly trim both top and bottom crusts leaving about 2 inches of overhang all around. Fold the bottom crust up and over the top crust and pinch to seal along all of the edges. Brush the top with the milk and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Cut several vents on top, along sides and in center of crust for even baking (there is a lot of steam to escape).
- Bake for about 40 to 50 minutes or until the pie is golden brown all over and the juices are bubbling. Cool at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature; pie is best served the same day.
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