Apple Pie

This my second attempt at apple pie. The first was last year for Thanksgiving and I was overwhelmingly disappointed by the sand-like texture of the crust.

Recipe: I modified on I found online, that was a modified version of one of Betty Hagman's

1 cup sweet rice flour
3/4 cup corn starch
3/4 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
(blend and mix above well)
cut in:
1/2 cup shortening (I used the earth balance kind)
1/4 cup butter
add:
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 egg
then 2-3 tbsp ice water, till the dough just starts to come together
REFRIGERATE

Peel, core, slice apples
sprinkle with 2 tbsp corn starch, cinnamon, grated nutmeg, allspice, pinch of salt, 1tbsp apple cider vinegar(I didn't have any lemon juice)

In a COLD, separate pan mix:
1 tbsp+ of arrowroot powder
2-3 tbsp apple cider
once it has formed a slurry (no lumps) turn the heat on and over medium, cook mixture till it starts to thicken
poor over apples and mix well

Remove pie dough from fridge, half, roll & shape
(I found it really helpful to work on parchment and transfer the dough by inverting the pie plate onto the dough and flipping all of them over - the dough is pretty delicate, but workable)

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, reduce to 325 and bake for an hour





ANALYSIS:
Crust: did not brown as much as I would have liked
Filling: trying to brown the crust = leaving the pie in too long and the apples started to break down
Taste: crust tasted good, texture a bit sand-like (but no where near as bad as the one from last year); filling had no sugar and didn't need any!



VERDICT: would make again, but would decrease the amount of rice flour. Maybe substitute a mixture of sweat potato starch and something else in? Maybe more butter than shortening to help browning?