Stone Fruit Pie

No book with this post, just an impromptu stone fruit pie, made with apricots from the farmers market, bing cherries, and a couple of other stone fruits I had in the house to fill it out.  This was my first time making a pie with cherries, and I found an ingenious way to pit them, which will make cherry pies something I tackle a lot more often.  For our next book recipe, I am doing biscuits and red pepper jam (the biscuits are in the oven as I type), but for now, follow the link for the recipe for  a simple summer pie.

I used Martha Stewart's tried and true pate brisee, and as usual it came out perfectly - no muss, no fuss.  My fruit measurements below are approximate, I just used what I had.  I also added a little bit of bourbon for the hell of it. I don't think I really tasted it though.  My trick for the cherries is that I just stuck a medium sized jagged edged pastry tip on my finger, stuck in the top of cherry and the pit came out.  I had a cherry pitter once and it was cumbersome, messy and broke.  This pastry tip method was quicker and neater and resulted in prettier whole cherries. 


Stone Fruit Pie
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

Ingredients 
[For crust]
2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted cold butter cut into small pieces
1/4 cup ice water, plus more if necessary
[For Fruit]
About 3 lbs fresh stone fruit, your pick.  I did pitted cherries, apricots sliced into quarters, a couple of sliced saturn peaches and a plumb.  This mix worked great
2/3 a cup to 1 cup sugar, depending on the sweetness of your fruit and how sweet you like your pie
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon bourbon or other liquor
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon milk
sanding or regular sugar for top of pie.

Directions:  Combine flour and salt in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade.  Pulse till combined.  Add butter and pulse about 10 times till butter is pea sized.  Add water through top of food processor and pulse till large clumps form, about 10 times again.  Transfer dough to a floured work surface and smoosh together.  Cut in half and flatten into two disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

After an hour, bring out dough and roll into a circle on a floured board and fit into bottom of glass pie plate.  Put in fridge.  Roll out second piece of dough on parchment paper into a large circle.  Refrigerate both doughs for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, pit the cherries and cut up the fruit.  Put in a bowl and mix with the sugar, lemon juice, salt, bourbon and cornstarch.  When the pie dough has been sufficiently chilled, bring it out and pile the fruit in the pie dish.  To make the lattice, use a pastry cutter, pizza cutter or knife to cut strips about 3/4 to an inch think.  Brush the bottom rim of the pie dough with water.  Attach the lattice and pinch together with your fingers.  I don't know how to verbally explain how to make the lattice, just use your common sense and weave the dough pieces together.  Trim the crust as you would any other pie and pinch to make the outer crust.  Combine the egg and milk and brush on top of the crust and then sprinkle with sugar.

Put in the fridge again for at least 30 minutes.  Preheat over to 400 with rack in lower third.  Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 20 minutes.  Then turn over down to 350 and bake for 40 - 60 minutes more until crust is lightly browned and filling is bubbling.