Add the flour, caster sugar, a pinch of salt and the ice cold diced butter to a blender. You can also use a stand mixer or mix manually.

Combine into a dry crumble and pour in the ice cold water.

Mix well again until you get a moist dough. You can add extra flour if it is too wet or tiny splash of water if it is too dry. The dough shouldn't be sticky at all.

Transfer it to a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough quickly for two minutes until it is smooth. Then wrap the dough loosely in cling film and let it rest at room temperature until needed again.

Peel and core the apples. Chop them up into smaller chunks. Add the butter to a large saucepan together with the star anise, bay leaf and clove.

Place the saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the chopped apples. Add half of the caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water as well.

Cook and stir the apples for 5 minutes. Then season with a pinch of salt, pepper and the cinnamon. Stir in the instant vanilla pudding mix. Take the cooked apples off the heat and let them cool down fully.

Unwrap the dough and divide it into 2 even balls. Then wrap one ball in the cling film again. Roll out the other dough ball into a thin circle. Coat an 8-inch (20 cm) diameter pie tin with it.

Cover it with a sheet of baking paper. Pour in some baking beans or weights.

Blind bake the pie crust in a preheated oven at 256°F (180°C) for 15 minutes. Then let the crust cool at room temperature. In the meantime roll out the other dough ball. Place it on a piece of cling film. This will make it easier to work with. Cut the dough into 11 strips with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Carefully remove 5 strips.

Now you can do 2 things: place the strips on top of the others…

Or weave them one by one…

And make a firm pie cover. Then place the dough cover in the fridge for 5 minutes. Fill the cooled pie crust with the cooked apple chunks (remove the clove and star anise).

Top with the cover and trim the edges and remove any excess dough.

Bake the apple pie in a preheated oven at 356°F (180°C) for 35 to 40 minutes. The top should be nicely golden in the end. Cover the pie with tinfoil if it brown too quickly. Remove the baked apple pie from oven. Serve lukewarm.Brush the top with the beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with the remaining caster sugar.