This recipe is from our friend Ben. Ben picked up Week B from our
and made a delicious pie with the sour cherries. Though he didn't have the opportunity to share the pie with us, he graciously agreed to share the recipe. It sure looks great. Sadly, I'm pretty sure the season for sour cherries in these parts has past. I look forward to trying this out next year!
Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavor—do not substitute.
This dough will be moister and more supple than most standard pie doughs and will require more flour to roll out (up to 1/4 cup).
I wouldn't worry too much about what kind of vodka to use, although I used Rain organic vodka, which is our favorite (this coming from a guy who really doesn't like vodka that much).
INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar (I used a bit less; you really just need a touch of sweetness)
12 tablespoons COLD unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup vodka, cold
1/4 cup cold water
To make dough:
Food processor method: Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
Hand method: Although the food processor is supposed to be more convenient, I find it to be a hassle and not produce the type of crumb I want. IMO the best way to do this is in a big bowl with a handheld pastry cutter. Just throw all the flour and the fats in the bowl and work it with the pastry cutter until a fine crumb forms.
Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture (doesn't hurt to prepare a half vodka/half water mixture with ice cubes in it to keep it really cold). With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together (or use your hands. In this case the spatula works well because the body heat from your hands can warm the dough up, and you don't want that. But it's easier to manipulate with your hands. So the choice is yours). Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days (I rolled it out after chilling for about an hour) You can prepare the filling while it chills (see below).
The rest of the recipe is mine, cobbled together from various online and human sources:
Filling:
Stem and pit the sour cherries (you could use frozen, thawed sour cherries if you can find them. Frozen sweet cherries are readily
available but just aren't as good as sour cherries). To pit I used a small paring knife and just split the cherries from the top down until it was open enough to pop out the pit. It is the most tedious and labor-intensive part of this recipe.
(CookDaddie note: I've heard great things about using a cherry pitter. I don't have room for another gadget in my kitchen, and I don't eat enough cherries to justify the purchase or use of space... but I have found that you can easily pop out the pit with the thick end of a chopstick.)
Place pitted cherries in a bowl (I believe it was a quart of whole cherries, about 4 cups, which seemed about the right size for the pie). I mixed them with a cup of sugar, 3 tbsp. of cornstarch (for thickening), 1/4 tsp salt, juice from half a lemon; and a little walnut liqueur (almond extract or vanilla extract would be fine). You can thrown in cinnamon or other spices if you wish. Mix well and let sit for a few minutes.
Rolling dough, baking pie:
Heat oven to 400 F. To roll the dough, I recommend using a French rolling pin, although whatever rolling pin you have is fine. Place one disk of dough on a cool, well-floured countertop (wood, Formica, marble), and roll dough out using quick strokes that start from the center of the disk. I was taught in cooking class to roll north, then south, then east, then west, basically until your crust has about an inch or more circumference than a 9-inch pie plate. Should be about 1/8 of an inch thick, but who's measuring?
To move crust to pie plate (ungreased -- I used a Pyrex glass dish), place the rolling pin at the bottom of the pie crust, then gently roll the crust up around the rolling pin. Then unroll the crust again over the pie plate. Trim off excess crust with paring knife or kitchen shears to leave about an inch of crust hanging over the side of the plate. Doesn't have to be perfectly round. It's also OK if you have a lot of trimmed crust leftover -- just put them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and bake at 350F or so until crusty and eat.
Pour pie filling into bottom crust. The filling, especially if it's fresh fruit, should be a heaping pile because it will bake down. Roll out top crust and repeat transfer with rolling pin to top of pie. Trim again, then fold bottom overhanging crust over top overhanging crust to seal the pie. Crimp the edge of the crust with a fork or your fingers. Cut slits in top pie crust to let steam escape. Feel free to be decorative here. You can also sprinkle a little sugar on top if you want.
Place pie on baking sheet, bake at 400 until top crust is golden, about 20-25 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 and back another 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling. Remove from heat and let cool.
(I let it cool and then covered it and left it on the counter for a few days before slicing into it. My sister said this is why it was so runny when we sliced it. She said to put it in the refrigerator once it is cooled a bit. I think that, or a little more cornstarch, or even tapioca, which I've seen used in other fillings, would help).
Serve with vanilla ice cream from
Blue Marble. Or cinnamon or ginger ice cream from Blue Marble. Or really any ice cream from Blue Marble.
Hand method: Although the food processor is supposed to be more convenient, I find it to be a hassle and not produce the type of crumb I want. IMO the best way to do this is in a big bowl with a handheld pastry cutter. Just throw all the flour and the fats in the bowl and work it with the pastry cutter until a fine crumb forms.
available but just aren't as good as sour cherries). To pit I used a small paring knife and just split the cherries from the top down until it was open enough to pop out the pit. It is the most tedious and labor-intensive part of this recipe. (CookDaddie note: I've heard great things about using a cherry pitter. I don't have room for another gadget in my kitchen, and I don't eat enough cherries to justify the purchase or use of space... but I have found that you can easily pop out the pit with the thick end of a chopstick.)
Heat oven to 400 F. To roll the dough, I recommend using a French rolling pin, although whatever rolling pin you have is fine. Place one disk of dough on a cool, well-floured countertop (wood, Formica, marble), and roll dough out using quick strokes that start from the center of the disk. I was taught in cooking class to roll north, then south, then east, then west, basically until your crust has about an inch or more circumference than a 9-inch pie plate. Should be about 1/8 of an inch thick, but who's measuring?
If you try this recipe or have any tips, please email me or add a comment.
