I've never seen nor heard of slab pie before! It looks a little like what we used to call fruit pizza, but more casual. I take it it tastes like pie?

That looks great. It looks a little like an apple tart to me.

I make a Dutch version that has a very buttery short crust made with egg yolk, and then you top the apples with a criss cross of the leftover pastry. I score the top pastry strips into serving size pieces pre-baking as otherwise it shatters and doesn't look as good when you're cutting it up to serve. When it comes out of the oven, you glaze it with apricot jam.

Slab pie is the "in" pie according to my DD. They're all over pinterest. It DOES take like pie but a "light" pie because it is thinner but it definitely tastes like an apple pie. I served it to 18 ladies tonight at a women's club dinner and they were raving.

And Rita, yes, it would be more like a tart except the "slab" comes from using a sheet cake pan to bake it in. (rather than a smaller tart tin) I saw some on line that also had a top crust which with the amount of filling would be way too much crust for me -- I like the open "pie" idea best.

I think it's funny that slab pies are so popular recently. I've made slab pies for years, I started with an apple slab pie and have made several other kinds, just because I can get so many servings from one. We had a big discussion regarding slab pies clear back in 2008 here, we're apparently on the cutting edge, LOL.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2439254/baking-sheet-pie

I made this one in 2013, with no top crust but everyone wanted the edge pieces because there was more crust, LOL.

The pie is pretty, Martha, but the plate is even prettier!

Annie

Isn't it just a "new" name for an apple tart? In England you're more likely to get pie but in mainland Europe tarts of varying shapes, forms and recipes are the norm.

Yeah...I want to see what the pie is covering up>
The "slab pies" remind me a little of school lunch pizza.

Looks good. Sure is easy. But the real question Martha is....did you use the Pillsbury crust or make your own? LOL. Actually I want to know if the Pillsbury crust is any good as I hate making anything that needs rolled out?

Mamapinky, I'm not Martha, but is the Pillsbury crust the one that comes in a red box and is rolled up into a roll? ( I can never remember if it's Pillsbury or Betty Crocker or something else and the title says "Betty Crocker Apple Pie"!) I think she used premade crust because the directions say "remove from the pouch and stack the crusts on top of each other", plus the recipe calls for Pillsbury refrigerated crust.

I make my own crust, and render my own lard to make it, but my Mother makes the worst pie crust in the world. She loves pie crust and will bake it flat on a sheet sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar so she can eat pieces of it. She just hates to make it, so she uses one that comes in a red box, two crusts per box, all rolled up into cigar shapes. They definitely are not the same as homemade, they have a kind of different aftertaste, a little salty or something, but they are absolutely acceptable since I usually give the edges to the dogs and mostly like the filling anyway.

I even bought them a couple of times when I was really pressed for time and passed them off to my Dad, his punishment for giving me little warning that he was stopping for supper. He only said "you didn't make this crust with lard, did you?" I said "nope" and just kept on pouring coffee, LOL. So you can tell it's not your regular homemade, but it's not awful and it's way better than my Mother's!

Annie

Looks great!

That is something I've been wanting to try for some time now. I have several recipes collected, but have yet to do it.

FWIW, most of them do have a top crust.

carolb -- those look amazing! Mamapinky -- yes, I did use the Pillsbury crust. For a premade product, I think they are quite good. Normally, I make my own crust (I make 4 at a time and freeze them) but if for some reason I forget to pull one out or think I have one and don't, I will buy the Pillsbury product. The Pillsbury is much superior to the frozen crusts that used to be the only premade crust you could buy.

Islay, perhaps -- but my tart tins (even the square one and the long one) are smaller than my sheet cake pan. But yes, I suppose rather than an Apple Slab Pie you could call it an Apple Tart Baked in a Sheet Pan.

But whatever you call it, it is delicious!

I'd certainly eat them all lol

Bumblebeez -- nor called an Apple Slab Pie!

My mother made something very similar to this when I was growing up, back in the 40's & 50's. I think she seasoned them a little differently than apple pie, because it had a little different flavor. Her apple pies were always made in Pyrex pie pans, very 'deep', always thickened with tapioca and seasoned only with cinnamon.

What we called "Apple Squares" was made in a large, shallow rectangular pan, with a fairly thin layer of sliced apples. I don't recall if there was any thickening used or not. Nor do I recall what seasoning she used, but I'm pretty sure it was more than just the cinnamon. She made her own pie crust (was there any other kind back then?), and it had crust on the top, too. She drizzled a glaze of powdered sugar & milk over the top. They were soooooo good!

Martha, that plate is beautiful! The dessert looks pretty good, too. :^)

Rusty

Annie and Martha. Thank You. I remember trying the Pillsbury crust years ago and I could taste preservatives. I ccan't make a decent crust to save my fat .. rump roast.

Lard huh Annie...I definitely don't render lard but will the store bought lard work? Or will it taste to porky? what do the rest if you cooking genius's use? You arnt all rendering lard are you? I want to make a great crust for my family over the holidays as they are crust lovers. They just don't love my crust, heck they don't EVEN like it. LOL. But its too late to think about raising a pig to make lard. (Shudders)

For many years I used Crisco to make crust. But they have changed it, it just doesn't make a very good crust anymore. So now I use about half & half of butter and lard. Just regular grocery store lard, it's the only kind I have access to. IF I could find a really good, freshly rendered leaf lard, I would use just that.

And no, it does not taste "porky" at all!

The "trick" ( to my mind) to good, flaky crust is to handle the dough as little as possible, make sure whatever shortening you are using is ice cold, and cut it into the flour with quick, light strokes. Also make sure the water you use is ice cold, too. Roll from the center out, do NOT use a back and forth motion with your rolling pin.

Rusty

This type of pie has been around for a very long time. It was especially popular at funerals and family gatherings where you had to feed a lot of people and not a lot of time to make many 8" pies.

They rarely had a top crust, but sometimes a baker would make cut-outs and put one on each (envisioned) piece so everyone would get some crispy top crust.

Personally, I LOVE pie in any form.

Martha, it looks VERY sweet with that glaze on it. I prefer a very tart apple pie. Just leave off the glaze or does it look neked if one does?

It has been some time since I have made an apple slab pie, but they are especially nice if you are serving a lot of people. I meant to ask you, is that a "flow blue" plate. Very pretty.

Sue

Mamapinky, it doesn't taste "porky", but it does have some kind of chemical they add to make it whiter and some preservative or another, BHA and BHT. The brand most often available here is Armour and it has a list of chemicals, as does Tenderflake. If you can find a refrigerated brand that might be better. If not, try a local Hispanic grocery, they use a lot of lard and it tends to at least be fresh.

There are brands available like Proper Foods that are just pure lard. There are also many brands on Amazon, but you'll pay dearly for them. If I didn't have pure lard, I'd probably take a page from AnnT's book and just use butter.

It's actually easy to render lard, but the real reason I do it is because if I put all that time and work into a pig, I'm using it ALL. I think it's disrespectful to the animal to be wasteful of it.

I do often use this recipe from CanaryBird, who used to post here before her death. It's easy to handle, more malleable than my Grandmother's old pastry recipe! It does call for lard, but I've used butter instead. Like Rusty mentioned, Crisco is worse than it used to be, so I try to avoid it but if you have a good all vegetable shortening you like, it could be used here, I'm sure. I do know that Madonna/bcskye used this recipe in her food processor. It does make a lot, so there's enough crust there for an entire half sheet "slab" pie, that's a plus, but if you don't use it all you can freeze a couple of discs for later use, it freezes well. I find it easy enough to work with that I don't even refrigerate it before I roll it out, that's a plus for me.

NATHAN'S NEVER FAIL PASTRY
**********************************
These quantities make enough pastry for 3 double-crust pies or 3 1/2 dozen tart shells - muffin size.

5 cups flour
1 teasp salt
2 teasp baking powder
1 lb (454 grams) Tenderflake lard
2 teasp white vinegar
1 egg - slightly beaten. Add water to vinegar and egg to make 1 cup
1) Mix together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in lard until crumbly (using two knives.)
2) Add liquid and mix gently with hands. (I use a fork to help me here.) Roll into a ball.
3) Roll out amount needed on a floured board. Refrigerate or freeze remainder.

Source: 'I've GOT To Have That Recipe'
Doubleday Canada - Victoria, B.C. 1986

sharoncb's tip: After step two I often put it in the fridge for an hour to make it firmer and easier to roll out.

Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving. Pie is always good, especially if you're like me and the filling is the best part!

Annie

Annie, I Thank You for the tutorial and recipe for crust. Part of my problem might be during the cutting in the fat with the flour...by the time I have it resembling course crumbs its warmed to much. And I haven't chilled the fat .

I'll give this a try in a few days and report my success. Thank You again and Happy Thanksgiving to you also.

Annie: What does the baking powder and vinegar do in a pie crust?

And Martha: What is the pattern of your blue dishes? They are so pretty!

The vinegar is supposed to help create a flaky crust. The vinegar reacts to the gluten in the dough, making it tender even if slightly overworked, supposedly. The egg also contributes toward making a tender dough . The dough will also roll out more easily and shrink less during baking with the vinegar, and the baking powder helps the crust to puff, helping it with flakiness and browns nicely. Or so the experts say.

Remember that lard is 100% fat and butter is 80% fat and 20% water. Crisco/shortening is 100% fat, I think. So, when switching fats, be sure to watch the texture of your dough. The additional water in the butter could make a stickier/wetter dough, and more flour could be necessary to make it a consistency that can be handled. Other fats could result in a drier dough, requiring just a bit more liquid. If you watch the texture of the crust it should be fine.

Annie