Sour Cherry Raspberry Pie and half Palmiers
I had a theme going for this Valentine’s Day weekend of sour cherries. Of course I needed a dessert so what better than sour cherry raspberry pie. I decided after reading through a pie cookbook that I would try to bake it differently. I blind baked the crust and then baked cut outs that I then painted some with red gel food colour. I also cooked the filling on the stovetop and then assembled the whole thing placing the red cut outs in a heart pattern for Valentine’s Day.
The all butter pastry was a new recipe for me, one written by Kate McDermott in her book Art of Pie. I’m still trying to find pie crust nirvana. Although I was quite happy with Stella Parks Recipe, it was at times less tender than I would prefer. So I’m still trying other recipes to see if I can find one I prefer. This one certainly has the lamination and layers of buttery pastry that I like.
Since these pie pastry recipes are American, I had to combine my 10% protein all purpose with my 13.3% protein flours to get it around 11-12% protein. I didn’t use any baking powder or vodka or vinegar for that matter to tenderize the crust.
All the leftover bits of dough after trimming the edges of the pie crust were layered and chilled. Later I rolled them out, sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on them, then rolled it up like a log and chilled again. I later sliced them and baked them from frozen for about 30 mins and make half palmiers. If they are any representation of the pie crust, then I think the pie crust is a success especially given the extra handling that these scraps of dough had. Definitely don’t throw your scraps of pastry dough away.
Comments
Benny, what a lovely Valentine's Day gift. I'm sure that your sweetie will appreciate the work and love that you put into making it, as well as having a happy tummy. Everything is beautifully made.
Richard
Thanks so much Richard, one thing about baking a pie this way, you soggy bottom that’s for sure. I have to do a much better job docking it more deeply though, after removing the weights the bottom crust blew up like a balloon in fact it went over the height of the edge of the pie dish. It was quite the site to see.
No soggy bottoms on this pie that’s for sure. After the first few bites I was able to pick the pie up by the edge crust to eat it. So flaky, more tender than the Bravetart Stella Parks recipe which I think is because that recipe uses much more water to flour ratio than this one. I think I can still get it more tender by increasing the amount of 10% all purpose flour I use in this pastry, next time. The sour cherries and raspberries were great together.
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These look awesome. I leave the sweets baking to my wife so I will have to share this with her! Happy Valentines Day!
Thank you Ian, I appreciate your comments. I do all the cooking and baking around my home so have to try to be good at multiple things if we wish to eat. I will admit that this pie was the best cherry pie I’ve made so far. A bit o a cheat to blind bake the crust and then cook the filling on the stovetop, but it guarantees a crisp dry bottom crust. It’s the first time I’ve tried this and I think I’ll do it again in the future.
Also putting a thin layer of almond paste keeps the filling from soaking through (after par baking the crust first). It's great with apple pie. Love that flaky crust!
Yes the other thing I keep reading is doing an egg white wash as well. In this case I completely baked the crust and then filled it with stovetop cooked filling. The bottom crust was perfectly baked this was and absolutely no chance of a soggy bottom.