Name: Sour Cherry Pie
Ingredients: 1 recipe Pie Crust for Two-Crust Pie; ¾ cups granulated sugar; 3 tablespoons cornstarch; 1 pinch fine salt; 3 ½ cups fresh sour cherries, pitted ((start with 1 ½ pounds)); ¼ teaspoon almond extract; 1 large egg, separated; 2 teaspoons cream, ½ & ½, or milk

Sour Cherry Pie

Equipment

9-inch Pyrex pie pan
Ruler or straight edge
Pizza stone (optional)

Ingredients

1 recipe Pie Crust for Two-Crust Pie
¾ cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 pinch fine salt
3 ½ cups fresh sour cherries, pitted (start with 1 ½ pounds)
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg, separated
2 teaspoons cream, ½ & ½, or milk

Instructions

Prepare bottom crust

Mix together egg white and ½ teaspoon water.
On pastry cloth, roll larger piece of dough until approx. 12 inches in diameter.
Place rolled dough in pie pan.
Brush dough in pan with egg white and water mixture.
Place dough in refrigerator.

Prepare filling

In medium bowl, mix together sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
Stir in cherries, and juice from cherries, and almond extract.
Set mixture aside for between 10 minutes and 3 hours.

Prepare lattice crust

Preheat oven to 425° F.
If using pizza stone, place in oven on middle or lower rack.
On pastry cloth, roll smaller piece of dough until approx. 10 ½ inches in diameter.
Using ruler or straight edge, cut rolled dough into strips approx. ¾ inch wide.
Separate strips into two groups. One way to do this is to pull every other strip up a little, so that one group is the lower strips and the other group is the higher strips.

Fill pie and put on lattice

Fill bottom shell with cherry mix.
Place one group of strips on pie, lined up in parallel and evenly spaced.
Gently fold back every other strip just past center.
Select longest strip from remaining group. Place strip on top of strips that have not been folded back. Position strip in the middle of the pie, perpendicular to the strips already on the pie and just before the folded-back strips.
Unfold the folded strips. Fold the strips that had not been folded back. Place the third-longest strip on the pie, parallel to the strip just added to the pie.
Repeat process to finish first side of pie and then to place lattice strips on second side of pie.
Using sharp knife, trim excess pie dough, so that crust comes to outside edge of pie pan.
Using table fork, press tines into the dough on the edge of the pie pan. Position fork so that tines are pointing to middle of pie. Repeat around entire perimeter of pie.

Apply wash

Mix together egg yolk and cream, ½ & ½, or milk.
Brush mixture over all lattice strips.

Bake pie

Place pie on 12-inch pizza pan or similar, to catch drips.
Place pie and pan in oven, on pizza stone.
After approx. ½ hour, cover loosely with aluminum foil to prevent crust from burning.
Bake for approx. 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, until juices inside are thick.
Cool on rack at least 3 hours before cutting.

Notes

Adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Pie & Pastry Bible.