Farm Cherry Pie - Gluten- free

[Ollie]

Cherry pie is a pastry base baked with a cherry filling, the topping may vary: a pastry lid, a lattice, or a crumble. Traditionally Cherry pies are made with Morello cherries (sour), which are one of the most common kinds of cherry used, although other varieties may be used.
Morello cherry, also known in English as griotte (which is also its French name), is probably the most known variety of sour cherry. Prunus cerasus (sour cherry, tart cherry, or dwarf cherry) is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus (cherries), native to much of Europe West Asia, and North Africa. The Morello cherry is used to make desserts, jams (jellies), alcoholic drinks such as Kirsch, and is used in savoury dishes.

In 1465, the Italian, Maestro Martino da Como, wrote a cookbook liber de arte coquinaria (The Art of Cooking). One of his recipes was for a Cherry and rose pie (although it was more of a clafoutis than a pie (and it is more of a tart, with the cherries baked in a batter within the tart shell).
In England, the cultivation of cherries was popular in the 16th century, during the reign of King Henry VIII (1509 – 1547). They became a common crop among Kentish (Kent is a county in South East England) growers.
The first, purported (source unknown), serving of a baked Cherry pie was to Queen Elizabeth I (1558 – 1603) in England. Cherry pie became established in European cuisine, especially in England. It is to be noted that these early Cherry pies were quite different from those we know today. It is quite likely that they had a thicker and coarser base and lid, a simpler filling of cherries and sugar, possibly spiced with cinnamon or cloves.

European settlers took their love of pies with them to America, including the Cherry pie. In fact, the cherry tree thrived in the fertile soils of thew Midwest and Northeast. Here the Montmorency cherry, known for its tart flavour, is used for making Cherry pies.
Montmorency cherry is a European cherry grown in the Montmorency region (Val d’Oise department (Île de France (Northern France)), that was taken over to America.

Early American pies were often more rustic than their European precedents. As they were often served in the Roman style, where the crust was discarded after the filling had been eaten. Today, most American pies are topped with a lattice.
As cherries became more abundant, Cherry pie quickly became common fare, as these Cherry pies were a practical way to use and preserve the Cherry harvest: the cherries could be enjoyed all year.
In America, Cherry pies are mentioned in the lyrics of American folk songs such as ‘Billy Boy’. Due to the cherry harvest in midsummer coinciding with Canada Day on July 1 and America's Independence Day on July 4, Cherry pie is often served on these holidays.
Also, it is also associated with the celebration of George Washington’s birthday, regarding in his youth, his honesty in the felling of a cherry tree.

In this recipe, the cherries used are home (Farm) grown and picked by hand. Tthis Cherry pie is a pastry base baked with cherries as a filling, and a pastry lid as the topping. The pastry used is a short crust type pastry (Pâte Brisée Pastry, or pâte à foncer spéciale) which is a plain, unsweetened, pastry that is used for lining pie dishes; for dessert tarts that have inherently sweet, rich fillings. This type of pastry is known as the ‘basic pastry’.

The filling is influenced by the blogpost of smittenkitchen, for a sweet cherry pie (sweet cherry pie), and the blogpost of ambitious kitchen for The Best Tart Cherry Pie You’ll Ever Taste ( The Best Tart Cherry Pie You'll Ever Eat | Ambitious Kitchen), although the method used is closer to that of smittenkitchen, as the filling is baked raw (rather than precooked) in the pastry dough base topped with a pastry dough lid.

Cherries exude very little juice when baked and so can be baked raw in a pastry shell rather than in a pre-baked crust. In this recipe, the cherry filling is enhanced with kirsch, which is a fruit liqueur made with fermented black cherries, although this is optional.

Cherry pie Ingredients:
Pastry dough shell and lid
Infused Cherry mixture
Butter
Eggwash
Cane sugar

Pastry dough shell and lid
Ingredients: (enough for a 24cm (9 ½ in) pie base and lid, any decoration and plenty left over for other uses)
Gluten-free pastry flour mix* 550g
Gum Arabic 3tsp
Sugar 1Tbsp plus 1 1/2tsp (19g)
Butter 320g (softened, room temp, cut into small, thin pieces)
Salt 1/2tsp
Apple Cider Vinegar 3tsp (14ml)
Egg (slightly beaten) 75g (1 large plus 1 yolk)
Water (cold) 8 – 16Tbsp (104 - 207ml)

*The Gluten-Free pastry flour mix is: Brown Rice Flour 390g, Sweet Rice Flour 150g, Potato Starch 35g, Tapioca Starch 115g, Arrowroot powder 70g. A total weight of 760g

Method:
Sift flour mix, add Gum Arabic and cane sugar then thoroughly mix them in a large bowl (1).

In a small bowl (2) add salt, Apple Cider Vinegar, and 8Tbsp cold water and whisk to dissolve the salt, add slightly beaten egg and lightly whisk together.

In a mixer bowl (3), add sifted flour mix and the sliced, cut, softened butter. Mix with paddle attachment at low speed until the total mixture is well combined, approximately 1min. Scrape down the paddle.

Slowly pour in liquid mix, in a continuous stream whilst mixing at low speed until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the paddle and bowl as necessary; add another 1Tbsp of cold water and incorporate. Initially the mix looks like gravel, then lumps before clumping together into a coherent mass, with the motor straining (between 1-4mins). Pinch it with your hand and see if it all comes together. If any small pieces of dough, or powder is not incorporated, dab them with the ball of dough to get them to incorporate; if they don’t, slice, or break open, the dough ball and add another teaspoon of liquid, one at a time, and then incorporate with your hands. The finished dough will look shiny when handled and pressed together. You want to be right on the edge of it being sticky. If it does become sticky, use your hands to roll it on a floured surface and massage the dough to incorporate the flour until it just ‘unsticks’.

Lay a piece of cling film/plastic wrap on a pastry board, place the dough on top of it, press it into a 13mm (1/2in) thick rectangle and cover well with cling film/plastic wrap.

Chill the pastry dough in a refrigerator for a minimum of 20mins, or even (preferably) overnight.

Cover the working surface with a sheet of parchment paper, or use a silmat; dust evenly and lightly with flour, and also dust the rolling pin.

Cut the pastry dough into two pieces, two thirds and one third (place the one third back in the refrigerator); dust hands with flour; then roll the pastry dough three times in one direction, evenly, gently and briskly (i.e., confidently); rotate the pastry a ¼ turn (ensuring that the pastry is not stuck to the board (if it is, it means that you are pressing too hard), lift with a spatula and re-flour if necessary); and repeat; and repeat until the pastry dough is 6mm (1/4in) thick and roughly a circle, of at least the diameter of the pie dish plus twice the height of the pie dish plus a little more (12mm (1/2in) for comfort, say a total of 36cm (14in) for a 24cm (9 1/2in) pie dish); ensure that there is enough flour under the rolled pastry dough for it to slide easily (you can make this the day before and place it in a fridge).

Cherry filling
The cherries are infused with sugar, to sweeten them, and further flavourings are added to enhance the flavour of the cherries. The Cornstarch and Gluten-free flour mix forms a light clear gel to bind the cherries together.

Ingredients
Cherries (fresh)** 680g ((pitted), use more if not pitted; then pit to get 680g)
Cane sugar 170g
Cornstarch 2Tbsp
Gluten-free Flour mix* 2Tbsp
Salt pinch
Almond extract 1/2tsp
Kirsch (optional) 1tsp
Vanilla extract 1tsp
Butter 15g (cold and sliced)

*Gluten-free flour mix: Brown Rice Flour 390g, Sweet Rice Flour 150g, Potato Starch 35g, Tapioca Starch 115g, Arrowroot powder 70g: Total weight 760g

**If using frozen Cherries (already pitted), defrost them overnight, and then dry them before using; if tinned (already pitted), place a colander over a large bowl (1), open the tin(s) and pour the Cherries and liquid into the colander, and allowing the liquid to drain through.

Method:
In a large bowl (1) add the pitted Cherries; then, over the top of the Cherries, sprinkle the Cane sugar, Cornstarch, Gluten-free flour mix, Salt, pour over the Almond extract, Kirsch (if using), and Vanilla extract. Gently stir together, and mix well, ensuring that the cherries are completely covered. Cover and set aside for the flavours to infuse; for one hour minimum, preferably two hours.

Assembly 1
This is concerned with filling the pastry dough shell with the Cherry mixture. First of all, it is necessary to prepare a pie dish (with sloping sides), then to move the rolled pastry dough shell to the prepared pie dish.

Lightly grease the pie dish with softened butter.

Cover top of rolled pastry with a sheet of clingfilm; move pastry dough on the well-floured parchment paper to the pie dish, place centrally over the pie, and with one hand carefully slide the pastry dough off the parchment whilst, with the other hand eases the pastry dough to droop into the pie pan bottom middle (or, simply invert the pie dish over the pastry dough and flip over); working around the circumference, ease the dough into place by gently lifting the clingfilm (or parchment paper) with one hand whilst tapping and pressing the dough into bottom corner; (if pastry dough breaks, use scraps to repair, including, if necessary, to create an edge) trim excess dough, leaving approximately 12mm (1/2in) overhang from the lip of the pie dish; fold this up to prevent it breaking whilst filling.

Tip and spoon the infused Cherry filling into the middle of the pastry dough shell, pile up the cherries in the middle and spread out to the sides. There may be more than the shell can hold (this is O.K.), if so, pile them up in the centre, and taper to the sides – as the cherries may sink whilst baking.

Place the Cherry filled pastry dough shell back in the refrigerator whilst the pastry dough lid is made.

Pastry lid
Now is the time to roll out the pastry lid.

Take the remaining one third of the pastry dough out of the refrigerator, massage it to get it soft enough for rolling without cracking.

Cover the working surface with a sheet of parchment paper, or use a silmat, dust evenly and lightly with flour, and dust the rolling pin too.

Remove the remaining one third pastry dough from refrigerator); dust hands with flour; then roll the pastry dough three times in one direction, evenly, gently and briskly (i.e., confidently); rotate the pastry a ¼ turn (ensuring that the pastry is not stuck to the board (if it is, it means that you are pressing too hard), lift with a spatula and re-flour if necessary); and repeat; and repeat until the pastry dough is 6mm (1/4in) thick and roughly a circle, of at least the diameter of the pie dish plus a little more for comfort, say a total of 28cm (11in) for a 24cm (9 1/2in) pie dish), minimum (if the infused Cherries are domed, check the diameter needed); ensure that there is enough flour under the rolled pastry dough for it to slide easily (you can make this the day before and put it in the fridge).

If making a decorative steam vent in the middle of the pastry dough lid, do it now. If not, the vents may be made later. Also, any pastry decoration may be applied now.

Assembly 2
Take 20g of cold temperature butter and slice it thinly. Place the pieces of sliced butter on top of infused Cherry mixture, starting in the middle and then moving out to the sides. This will ensure that the lid stays with the base when the baked Cherry pie is cut into slices for serving.

Fold down the approximately 12mm (1/2in) overhang so that this rim is level.
Brush a little water around the rim of the pastry dough pie shell.

Use a thin offset metal palet knife to lift up the front edge of the pastry dough lid, so that the hands, or a (floured) thin metal pizza shovel, may slide underneath, in order to lift up the pastry dough lid.
Move the pastry dough lid to the filled Cherry pie shell. Drape the pastry dough lid centrally over the centre of the filled pie shell, and leaving an approximate 12mm (1/2in) overhang.
Gently press the top and bottom overhangs together, so that they will seal together on baking.
If not already made a decorative vent in the centre of the pie lid, make a central slash and four more little slashes on top of the lid (at the cardinal points (the four main compass directions: north, south, east, and west,)) for the steam to escape.

Using either a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen scissors, trim the overhang so that it is an even width around the rim.

Using a paring knife, gently ease up the doubled pastry dough edge in towards the centre, all the way around the pie circumference.
To produce a classic scallop crimp to the pie edge, if you are right-handed, use the thumb and first finger of your left hand, on the outside of the pie, and the first finger of the right hand on the inside of the pie (over the pie lid). Note that the width of the crimp, fluted edge, or wave, can be adjusted by moving the fingers further apart (looser) or together (tighter). For this style of pie, keep the waves relaxed and loose, i.e., fairly wide apart, as a tighter crimp will not hold its shape as well.
Press the hands toward each other to meet in the middle, to made an even impression in the pastry dough; repeat around the pie circumference.
Work quickly, dusting the fingers with flour, as required, so that the dough does not become too warm.

If desired, decorate the pastry dough lid with shapes made from pastry dough scraps. Brush the bottom of any decoration with water and lightly press onto the pastry dough lid.

At this stage the raw filled Cherry pie may be stored in a refrigerator, or frozen, when wrapped in aluminium foil.
The unbaked, raw, Cherry pie can be frozen for up to 3 months. Once ready to eat, defrost the pie in the fridge and then reheat at 175°C (347°F) for 20-30 minutes or until warm.

If baking now, place the filled pie dish in the fridge for at least 30 mins (for the pastry/butter to harden) before baking.

Place a baking tray in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven at 200°C (392°F) for 45mins.

Whilst waiting for the oven to heat up, make a ‘heat shield’ to prevent the top surface of the Cherry pie from over-browning. The heat shield needs to be large enough to easily fit over the top of the pie.
Make the heat shield out of a square of aluminium foil such that the shield has a diameter at least 5cm (2in) wider than the circumference of the pie dish and pastry crimp, and a depth of at least 5cm (2in), so that it can stand on the baking tray. Scrunch up the sides to add thickness, and thus, stiffness to them.

Lightly brush (if too much is used the crust will be like leather after baking) the top crust with egg wash (one large egg, lightly whisked, and a little water added to dilute it, lightly whisked again to incorporate), then, sprinkle the lid evenly with 2Tbsp Cane sugar.

Baking
Place the filled and topped Cherry pie dish onto a hot baking tray in the preheated oven. Place the heat shield over the top of the filled pie dish. Close the oven door.

Bake for 25mins (this temperature/time combination will help alleviate any possible problems of getting a soggy base (as it bakes the bottom shell quicker) although it is unlikely to happen with a cherry filling), before reducing the temperature.

Open the oven door and remove the heat shield.
Close the oven door and reduce the heat to 180°C (356°F), and bake for a further 25 – 30mins, or until the crust is golden brown and the infused Cherry mix is starting to bubble.

Serving
Remove the pie dish containing the baked Cherry pie from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack, and cool completely; for at least 4 hours before serving.

Enjoy!!!

Wrapped in foil, leftover Cherry pie will keep for 3 days at room temperature, or in a refrigerator for two days, or in a freezer for up to 3 months. To freeze, wrap the Cherry pie tightly with aluminium foil and placing it in a heavy freezer bag. To use after being frozen, defrost in a refrigerator overnight.

 

[Alejo]

That looks delicious!

And the story of the cherry pie was actually really interesting, thank you so much for sharing that, believe it or not it makes it that much more interesting to bake it if you know that you're making a dish that actually has so much history.

 

[Ollie]

That looks delicious!

And the story of the cherry pie was actually really interesting, thank you so much for sharing that, believe it or not it makes it that much more interesting to bake it if you know that you're making a dish that actually has so much history.

Alejo, I agree, when making up recipies it helps me 'get inside' what the dessert is, and how to make it authentically.