Apple Pie Bread

My mother can bake pies like no other person I know. She doesn't do it nearly so often anymore, mostly just for holidays, but the fact still stands. Not only does she make the pie crust from scratch (which perpetually amazes me), but her pies seem to have a depth of flavor to them that I've just never been able to find anywhere else. Pecan Fudge Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, you name it. Maybe it's just because they're my Mamas but yeah, I'm partial to them.

My (by far) favorite of her pies is her Apple Pie. She makes a Amish-style apple pie, which if you don't know basically means you add a sort of crumble to the top instead of regular pie crust. Until I was about 10 I didn't know most families made pie with a crust on top. I still see crust on an apple pie as a sort of abomination, it just doesn't seem right.

Saturday at the Market I picked up some beautiful Jazz Apples mostly just for the boy to munch on. But turns out he's not a fan, so they've basically been sitting on my counter taking up space. Last night I had the baking bug (and I needed bread so, yeah) but none of the recipes I've had floating around in my head sounded good. I was really craving something savory sweet, but not super rich.

I ended up kicking around the thought of Apple Pie Bread (after all, I had apples) and went for it. I diced the apples, gave them a hot cider bath for a bit so they didn't toughen up in the oven and prepped my Wifey bread. After the first rise, I folded in the apples by doing my fold and flatten method. Next time I think I'm going to also add a sprinkle of cinnamon to each fold. I like swirls, but this recipe is pretty 'rough' and a swirl seemed so... uniform.

After the second rise, I added a chilled crumble mixture (sugar, butter, flour and cinnamon) and tossed them in the oven for the regular 30 mins. The finished result smelled exactly like Apple Pie, the steam wafting off of them was heavenly. This morning, I cut pieces for the Boy and I for breakfast and it was just amazing. Light and moist, with wonderful little pockets of apple happiness. This recipe is sticking around for sure.