MY favorite apples to eat as well as bake with are Honey Crisp, Granny Smith and Pink Lady--all what I refer to as 'sweet-tart' apples. My sliced or cubed apples are tossed with a blend of sugar, a bit of flour, a tsp of butter, cinnamon and cardamom to taste and left to set while dough is chilling. This mixture draws out some of the apple juice and the flavors meld beautifully. My crust is the flour, salt, and binding of a mixture that's 2/3 butter and 1/3 Crisco. I agree it's best to use just enough water then refrigerate the dough. Chilling allows forming a better ball to be easily rolled to the desired diameter from the center out, not back and forth, just as you said--and provides a flakier crust. Whether I have a full top crust that has been slit, a circle in the center for venting, or a lattice crust, I brush the top of the mostly baked crust with an egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar for the last 10-12 minutes of baking. Autumn IS pie-baking season Yum!!😋😋😋

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