I have to tell you about this because I'm so excited... I've made a first Pie in my live! You probably think what's so exciting about making a pie? Well, there's actually nothing really exciting about a pie though there's something exciting about MY first pie. First the reason why I made this pie is not because I really wanted to make my first pie but the reason is I needed to take a photo for my first SLW Photo Remake. And finally, I'm so excited because I think I did pretty well...! This pie is really scrumptious and the photo is not bad either (at least in my opinion, I will see what others will say). I hope it's more clear now :)
It wasn't easy at all to make this pie just for the fact that:
- I've never made one in my live
- I didn't have a pie plate
- I couldn't find any "yummy" looking recipe
But I managed to solve all these difficult bits a pieces and it was really fun in the end. I had to buy a new pie plate first (later on I realised I didn't actually buy a pie plate but a tart plate) and I spent about an hour searching for a recipe. I discovered two recipes and decided to combine both as I wanted to make a plum pie. The original recipe I used for the dough is here.
Well I finally collected all my strength to make the pie at about 9pm, not to mention I didn't have a plain flour and a corn starch. I'm so lucky a local shop is no more than 2 minutes walk away from our flat and is open till 11pm! Ok, everything else went really smoothly until the moment when the plum filling tried to escape from a pie plate and messed the whole oven. Think positive - I wanted to clean the oven anyway. Ugh, I love making pie. Today lesson - always make sure you are prepared!
Double crusted Plum Pie
Serves 8
For the crust:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (1 cup/227g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
6 tbsp ice water
1egg mixed with 1 tbsp water, for egg wash (I used milk instead)
granulated sugar to sprinkle on the top
For the filling:
900-1000g plums
1 cup sugar (plums I had were quite sour but I think less sugar could be used if fruit is sweet enough)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
The dough may be done in a food processor but I don't have one so I used my hands. Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Rub in butter with your fingertips until you get a coarse mixture. Add the water and blend until the dough almost comes together into a ball. You can add a little more water if it looks a little dry. Divide dough in half then shape each half into a ball. Wrap each in plastic wrap, and refrigerate them for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 190C/375F.
Wash plums, cut them in half, removing the stones. Cut about half of the plums into quarters and half into sixths. Combine cut plums, sugar, salt, cornstarch and vanilla extract in a bowl and set aside.
Lightly grease your pie plate. Roll out one ball of the dough on a lightly floured surface to make a bottom pie crust. Make sure there will be a bit of overhang around the edge of the pie plate. Fill the bottom crust with plum mixture. Make a top pie crust by rolling out second ball of dough and lay on top of the pie plate. Seal filling in completely by pressing down the top crust edges. Brush the top of the crust with egg wash and sprinkle generously with sugar. Using a small sharp knife, cut 5-7 slits in the top crust.
Bake for 65-75 minutes, until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling through vents on the top of the pie. Let pie cool completely on a wire rack before slicing to ensure that the filling thickens up.
