I modified this double crust recipe for cooking in a dutch oven.

Crust
Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
• 1/2 cup shortening, chilled and cut into small cubes
• 1/4 cup cold milk
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoons salt

Add flour and salt to a large mixing bowl.  Stir to combine. Cut the butter and shortening (or lard, if desired) until it looks like large, coarse crumbs.  In a separate bowl, combine milk, beaten egg, and cider vinegar until well-mixed.  Gradually add wet ingredients into the flour mixture until the dough forms a ball.  Divide dough into thirds.  

Flatten one-third of the dough into a disc, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate.  Combine the other two-thirds of the dough, flatten into a single disc, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate.

Filling
Ingredients:

• 8-10 apples, cored and sliced *
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/3 cup instant tapioca
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

*For best results, use a combination of granny smith, golden delicious, honeycrisp, and braeburn apples.

Toss sliced apples with lemon juice to help prevent browning.  Add the rest of the filling ingredients and let rest for one hour.  This will allow the apples to start to collapse and give up some of their juice.

Egg Wash
Ingredients:

• 1 beaten egg yolk
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Mix together thoroughly.

When the apples have started to give up their juices, it’s time to assemble the pie.

Using a floured board, gently roll the larger piece of dough out until it’s approximately 1/8 inch thick.  Rotate the dough often to get a nice, round shape.  Carefully lay the dough into the bottom of a cool 12-inch dutch oven.  Fit it snugly into the bottom of the oven and up the sides about 3 inches.

Brush the entire bottom crust with the egg wash mixture.  Pour the apples into the bottom crust, pressing them down gently to remove most of the air space between apples.  Make sure to pour in the juice released by the apples.  The apples should be mounded slightly in the center of the oven.

Roll the remaining crust until it’s approximately 1/8 inch thick.  Dampen the edges of the bottom crust with water and carefully lay the top crust over the apples.  Seal the edges by pressing the top and bottom crust together against the side of the oven.  Trim the excess crust and flute the edges.  Using a knife with a sharp, thin blade, cut a 1/2-inch hole in the center of the top crust.  Cut 5 or 6 slits into the top crust in a spoke pattern, or get creative with these cuts, which are used to vent steam.  Brush any remaining egg wash onto the top crust and sprinkle about 2 Tablespoons sugar over the top crust.

Bake the pie using 12 coals bottom heat and 18 coals top heat for about 1 hour or until the top crust is golden brown and the apple filling is bubbly.  Don’t forget to rotate the oven and lid 1/4 turn in opposite directions every 10-15 minutes for even browning.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

You’re not going to get nice slices out of this pie — at least not the first couple of servings.  Just use a plastic serving spoon and make sure you get both top and bottom crusts with each serving.  If you want a nice, sliceable pie, this same recipe can be used with a tart pan (with a removeable bottom).  Place a trivet (or 3 or 4 stacks of 3 or 4 nickels) in the bottom of the oven and place the tart pan (or pie pan) on the trivet.  Once the pie is baked, it can be removed from the oven, cooled slightly, and sliced and served.