Cherry Pie

Cherry pie
From The Boston Globe
July 7, 2010

Makes one 9-inch pie

Two Fat Cats Bakery in Portland, Maine, uses sour cherries for this classic, but the season is very short. You can use sour cherries from a jar, but with markets full of fresh cherries, it seems a shame to get fruit from a jar. This version uses sweet cherries with both cornstarch and tapioca to thicken the red juices.

PASTRY

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into large chunks
7 tablespoons cold shortening
1/3 cup ice water, or more if necessary
Flour (for sprinkling)

1. In food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt just to sift them.

2. Add the butter and shortening and pulse until the texture has pea-sized chunks of butter still intact.

3. Sprinkle 1/3 cup water over the mixture and pulse until the mixture forms large clumps. Do not let the mixture come together to form a dough. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to form clumps.

4. Turn the clumps out onto a lightly floured counter and shape gently to form a dough. Divide it in half. Shape each into a disk. Wrap separately in foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Let the dough sit at room temperature about 5 minutes before rolling.

6. On a lightly floured counter, roll 1 disk of dough to an 11-inch round. Lift it onto the rolling pin and ease it into the pie pan. Refrigerate the pan.

7. Roll out the other disk of dough to a 10-inch round. Lift it onto the rolling pin and ease it onto a baking sheet. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

FILLING

2 3/4 pounds fresh cherries, pitted
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
5 teaspoons instant tapioca
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
About 2 tablespoons milk (for brushing)
Extra sugar (for sprinkling)

1. In a bowl toss together cherries, sugar, cornstarch, tapioca, and cinnamon. Transfer cherry filling to the dough in the pan. Cover with the flat dough. Turn the edges under to form a neat hem all around. Crimp the edges.

2. Freeze the pie for 30 minutes.

3. Set the oven at 400 degrees.

4. Brush the dough with milk, sprinkle with sugar, and cut vents evenly around the pie.

5. Bake the pie 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cherry juices are bubbling up through the vents. During baking, if the edges of the crust brown too much, cover the rim with foil. Cool pie on a wire rack.

Karoline Boehm Goodnick. Adapted from Two Fat Cats Bakery.