I didn't hate this first attempt at a decorative crust. I will say that I didn't really think there was quite enough from the recipe to truly do this correctly, so I will be adding 20% more dough to the next recipe I make. I think every other month, I may do decorative tops, because there are just so many types of pies to make. Next month, I will probably focus on tarts, since citrus is so good right now. Late February is also typically when I'm able to find Bergamot, and well? If you have never had bergamot curd? It is worth every bit of effort.
This pie was kind of a holiday throwback, because I still had a bag of cranberries I needed to find something with which to do. So, I made my spiced cranberry sauce, added pecans, and played with crust for an afternoon.
This week was tough, and it was so therapeutic to do this. It really did help me feel a little better, to channel my frustrations into something a bit creative.
I only wish I wasn't so salty when I started this, because I would have actually taken photos of the process. But, at the last minute, I grabbed my camera, and got some photos of the finished product; before, and after baking.
Here is the recipe!
You will need:
1 medium saucepan
Measuring devices, or food scale
9 inch pie pan
Large bowl, fork, or pastry cutter
Rolling pin
Smooth, clean, flat surface for rolling out dough
Pastry Brush
Filling Ingredients:
1 bag of cranberries
1/2 c white caster sugar
1/2 c brown sugar, packed.
1/2 c chopped, roasted pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
zest of one unwaxed, organic orange.
Crust Ingredients:
340.2 g (2 3/4 C) all purpose flour, or 1/1 gluten free flour equivalent
227 g, or 2 sticks very cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 c or 125 ml Ice water. (It is likely you will not need this much. Go tablespoon by tablespoon with this.)
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, 1 tbsp water, for egg wash.
Method:
Start by preparing the filling. Add sugar, berries, and zest to a medium saucepan, and stir over medium heat, until the berries have all burst, and you have a jam-like consistency. This does not take very long, so be sure to be attentive with this.
Add spices, and pecans, stirring well to combine. Pour mixture into a bowl, and refrigerate; at least one hour.
Next, start fiddling with that dough.
Add 12 ounces of flour to a bowl. Add salt, and whisk to combine.
Add butter chunks, and cut this into the mixture with your pastry blender or fork,
until the mixture resembles little white peas in sand.
Start adding cold water to this; one tablespoon at a time. The reason for this has to do with humidity in your kitchen. This always varies, and some days, you may need a lot of water. Other days? Not so much. So go slow, and pay attention to the consistency of your dough.
Once you have something that holds together nicely, form it into a ball with your hands. Make the ball fairly even, and then slice it in a rough half with a bench scraper, or knife. In this instance, I did a 60/40 split, with the bottom being the heavier of the two pieces. I wanted to be sure I'd have enough to roll out a 12 inch circle, and it just barely did it for me.
So, you've got two big balls of dough now. They are not the biggest balls of them all, but they will do. Take these balls, flatten them slightly, and wrap them in cling film to store in the refrigerator, at least 30 minutes. An hour, is better.
Once you have everything chilled well, let it sit for about 10 minutes, so it's easier to work with. Be sure to flour your work surface well, to avoid sticking. In dough, pliability is a good thing, but again, you don't want your dough to be so soft all of the butter runs out when you go to bake it.
I take my bottom disk, and then I bash it evenly with a rolling pin to start the flattening process. This is a good trick to have up your sleeve, because it helps keep the dough from splitting or tearing on you, and the butter also remains very cold. If the dough does split or tear, just stop and press it back together carefully.
Once you have it flattened out a bit, start rolling. I do one roll per quarter-turn. This will ensure the dough won't start sticking to the table. Feel free to re-flour any surfaces that start sticking. I also tend to flip it over once in a while to check for tearing on one side, or the other. It can start doing that, and it's easy to fix if you catch it before you have something too thin. You will want this disc to roll out to about a 12 inch circle. Once you have that, bring your pie dish close enough to reach, place your rolling pin in the center of your dough, and bring it up over the sides to plop down onto the pie plate.
Trim slightly. You will have a tiny bit of extra dough. Use that bit of trimmed dough to work the crust into the sides of the pan. I have never had a lick of trouble with just a clean pie plate here. None. Don't worry about greasing first.
At this point, you may have a bit of uneven spots around the edges. This is the time to fix those. Just cut and patch as you need.
Now, crimp the edges of your pie shell with your fingers. I take my right index finger for one side, and my thumb and left index finger for the other side of the crimp. Press all of that together, going around the outside of the pie plate until you reach your starting point.
Now, grab your filling, and fill that shell. No need to dock, or pre-bake this shell, but as you can see, I did it anyway, because old habits die hard.
Next, take your other dough disk, and roll that out to roughly the same thickness as your first disc. It will not be a 12 inch circle, and that's fine.
Take your bench scraper or knife, and cut strips, about an inch wide. To make the fringe, cut small shags into the strips of dough with your knife, or bench scraper. You want this to be close enough together so that the strips flare into a circle, but not so close together that they fall apart. They will fall apart slightly, and that is also fine, because it's much easier to work with smaller strips than larger ones on a sticky surface.
Start laying these strips along the edge of the crust, with the flares facing the crust; not the center. Keep layering these until you get to the center. Once you get to the center, take a small ball of remaining dough, and cut the same types of slits along the edges, and place that in the center.
Refrigerate the assembled pie for about 30 minutes, to re-chill the dough. This is important, because if the butter got too soft in the shaping process, you could have separation issues in your final bake.
Preheat oven to 350F, or 180C.
When your creation has chilled, brush this with egg wash, dust with sanding sugar, (I used raw.) And bake for 45-55 minutes. Peek at it a couple of times as it bakes. I like to do this around the 25 minute mark, and again around 40 minutes. If it starts to look like anything is scorching, place some foil over the top to prevent burning.
Allow to cool for at least 2 hours before cutting, and enjoy!
-H
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