Slab Apple Pie

Directions

1) Make the crust: Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, confectioners' sugar, and buttermilk powder.  Add the shortening, working it in till the mixture is evenly crumbly.  Cut the butter into small (about ½") cubes.  Add the butter to the flour mixture, and work it in roughly with a pastry cutter or knives. Don't be too thorough; the mixture should be very uneven, with big chunks of butter in among the smaller ones.

Add the 1 teaspoon vinegar and 4 tablespoons water, and toss to combine. Toss with enough additional water to make a chunky, fairly cohesive mixture. It should hold together when you gather it up and squeeze it in your hand.

Divide the dough into two pieces; one should represent about 40% of the dough, the other, about 60%, as the bottom crust needs to be larger than the top crust.  Shape each piece of crust into a rectangle; you're going to be rolling them into rectangles, so might as well give yourself a head start. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes, till thoroughly chilled.

Take the larger piece of pastry out of the fridge, and put it on a floured work surface. Roll it into an 11" x 15" rectangle. Don't worry about the ragged edges; they'll disappear under the top crust. Place the crust in an ungreased 9" x 13" cake pan. Patch up any holes by pushing the pastry together with your fingers, or adding a pinch from the excess on the sides. Push the pastry up the sides of the pan a bit, to make a shallow pastry container for the apples. Put the crust in the fridge while you get the apples ready.

2.  Start preheating your oven to 350°

3.  The filling:  Spread the bread crumbs evenly over the crust. Spread the sliced apples atop the crumbs. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the apples.

4.  Top crust:  Roll the remaining piece of pastry into a 9" x 13" rectangle. Again, don't worry too much about ragged edges. Lay the top crust over the apples.  The apples may poke through. Seal the edges of the two crusts as well as you can. There'll be places where they don't quite meet. That's OK. If the whole thing has become warm and sticky and hard to work with, pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm it up. Just before baking, slash the crust 6 or 8 times to allow steam to escape.

5.  Baking:  Put the slab in the preheated 350°F oven, and bake it for an hour. Remove it from the oven; it'll be golden brown, and the filling should be bubbling.  Allow it to cool completely before glazing.

6.  Glaze: Combine the confectioners' sugar, boiled cider, cinnamon, salt, and enough milk or cream to make the mixture "drizzlable." Don't have boiled cider? Use plain milk or cream, maple syrup, honey, or thawed apple juice concentrate. Start with 1/4 cup of any of these; if you've made this kind of icing before, you know it's easier to add more liquid, than to try to take it away. Add enough liquid to make the glaze pourable. Drizzle the glaze atop the cooled slab pie.