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Lattice-Top Deep-Dish Sour Cherry Pie

Source of Recipe

From "Pie Academy" by Ken Haedrich


Recipe Introduction

"The key to making a good sour cherry pie, I believe, is adding just enough sugar to tame the tartness without smothering it. The other trick is to use enough thickening to gel the prodigious amount of juice. Other than that, I like to keep the filling simple with a little lemon juice and zest, a dab of butter, and a pretty lattice top so the bright red cherries can peek through. Sour cherries can be difficult to find in many parts of the country, so ask around if your market doesn't carry them."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ Double-crust pie dough of your choice
â—¦ 6 cups pitted fresh sour cherries
â—¦ 1 ¼ cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar, plus a little for sprinkling
â—¦ ¼ cup cornstarch
â—¦ 2 teaspoons lemon juice
â—¦ Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
â—¦ 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
â—¦ Milk or half-and-half, for glaze
â—¦ Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)


Recipe

Prepare and refrigerate the pie dough. Shape the larger dough piece into a disk and the other piece — for the lattice strips — into more of a rectangle. Roll the larger dough portion into a 13-inch circle and line a 9- to 9 ½-inch deep-dish pie pan with it, letting the excess dough drape over the edge. Refrigerate the shell until needed.

Adjust the oven racks so one is in the lower position and another is in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix the cherries and the 1 ¼ cups sugar in a large bowl; let stand for 10 minutes. Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl; stir into the fruit along with the lemon juice and zest.

Roll the other dough half and cut it into lattice strips.
Turn the filling into the pie shell, smoothing out the fruit with a spoon. Dot with little bits of butter here and there. Weave a lattice top with the dough strips. Using a small pastry brush, carefully brush the lattice strips with milk. Try to avoid touching the filling with the brush so you don't paint the strips red. Sprinkle the pie generously with sugar.

Put the pie on the prepared baking sheet and bake on the lower oven rack for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375° F and move the pie up to the middle rack, rotating it 180 degrees. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes longer, until the juices bubble thickly through the lattice strips. Transfer the pie to a rack and cool for at least 1 ½ to 2 hours before serving. Garnish slices with ice cream, if desired. Cover and refrigerate leftovers after 24 hour.


Makes 8 to 10 servings



• Don't use anything less than a large deep-dish pie pan because this pie is very juicy.

• Ripe sour cherries are easy to pit. After you pull off the stem, you can simply squeeze the pit out of the stem end.

• Don't omit the lemon juice and zest, thinking the cherries will be tart enough. The lemon flavor is wonderful with the cherries.