Filling is baked between two layers of pastry dough or in one bottom layer of pastry dough. Choose pies for delicate artistry and presentation and to signify special occasions. Be prepared to invest some time on the dough, chilling and shaping. The tip to getting the flakiest ethereal pie dough of all is chilling. Keep the dough cold and chill after each step, including before baking the assembled pie.
For my pie, I use a version of a 3-2-1 pie crust, meaning 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat and 1 part water, but with a slightly reduced amount of butter.
Yield: one 9-inch pie (two crusts)
What You Need:
14 tablespoons (198 grams) cold unsalted butter
3 cups all purpose flour (384 grams)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2-3 tablespoons cane sugar or turbinado sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
½ - 1 cup ice water (120 grams)
4-5 cups prepared fruit filling (see below)
2 tablespoons tapioca flour/starch or cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small chunks
1 egg, beaten or 2 tablespoons heavy cream
What You Do:
Cut the butter into small cubes (4 cubes per tablespoon) and place on a plate or parchment lined sheet pan. Freeze for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the fruit filling (see below).
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and sugar.
With your finger tips or a pastry blender, gently mix in the cold butter, pressing and crumbling until you have small pea-sized pieces coated in flour.
Add ½ cup ice water to the flour and butter mixture with a spoon until it just comes together. Add more ice water a few drops at a time, if needed, so that it forms into a ball.
With your hand, in the bowl, knead 1 or 2 times until the dough holds together. Alternatively, turn the dough out onto the countertop and knead a few times until it holds together.
Divide the dough half. Form each half gently into a 5-inch disk and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Freeze for 20 minutes or refrigerate at least one hour or up to 1 day. [Unused disks can be frozen for up to 3 months.] Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
On flour dusted parchment paper, roll one disk of dough into a round, about ⅛ inch thick and 10 inches in diameter. Don’t worry about jagged or uneven edges. Those can be fixed later. Gently fold the dough in half and then in quarters. Transfer the folded dough to a pie plate and gently unfold. Using your fingertips, gently press the dough down into the pie plate and into the corners. Let the excess dough drape over the sides. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Stir the tapioca flour/starch or cornstarch into the fruit filling. Allow to stand 10 minutes. Then pour the filling into your pie dish on top of the crust. Dot the filling with the remaining pieces of butter. Return filled pie to the refrigerator.
On flour dusted parchment paper, roll out the second disk of dough into a round, about ⅛ inch thick and 10 inches in diameter. Gently fold the dough in half and then in quarters. Transfer to the pie plate and unfold carefully over the fruit filling. With a sharp knife or kitchen shears, cut the excess dough hanging from the edges. You should have about ½ inch of excess dough remaining on each piece. Using your fingers or a fork, crimp the dough together around the edges of the pie plate to seal in the filling.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Arrange oven racks so that they are in the middle and lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove pie from refrigerator and place on a baking sheet. Cut 4-5 slits ¼ inch in length in the middle of the top crust, for venting steam. Brush the dough with the beaten egg or cream, and sprinkle with turbinado or coarse sugar. Bake for 25 minutes or until the crust is light golden brown and fruit is slightly bubbly.
Rotate the pie on the oven rack. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking an additional 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. If adding additional baking time, keep checking every 5 minutes.
Allow to cool completely, at least 2 hours at room temperature.
Sourdough Discard Variation: For a tangy and even flakier pie crust you can use some of your collected sourdough discard in the pie crust. In step 4, simply replace the first ½ cup of water with ½ cup of refrigerator cold sourdough discard. Continue as instructed, gradually adding drops of ice water as needed.
The Fruit Filling
What You Need:
5 cups fruit, (2.5 pounds peaches, plums, apricots, apples, etc. and 2 pints blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc.) peeled if desired, pitted, sliced 1/4 inch thick or diced into 1/2 inch chunks
⅓ cup sugar (white, brown, cane, turbinado, raw, maple crystals, or coconut)
3 pinches fine sea salt
1-2 teaspoons ground spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, etc.) or the insides of a vanilla bean, optional
Zest and juice from one lemon*, optional but highly recommended
*notes:
With cranberries, pears and apples, try orange in place of lemon, and only use half of a medium orange
With apples, you can omit the tapioca flour/starch or cornstarch
What You Do:
In a large bowl, stir together the prepared fruit, sugar, salt, spices, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours. You can refrigerate if you choose but this is not necessary.