I’m maybe a little, only slightly, sort of obsessed with making pie right now. I can’t stop! And yes, a lot of it has to do with fruit just being so pretty right now. It all smells so fragrant, looks so cute, taste so delicious, ugh! But the main reason why I love making pie is the actual process. It’s therapeutic. (Not that I need therapy, really(?).)
The rolling, transferring, crimping, braiding, sealing, egg washing and so on is so soothing, peaceful and so in the moment. Making pie isn’t really stressful, but it does requires all of your attention. No texting, checking Instagram or thinking about emails that need to be sent or what to make for dinner. The only thing that matters when you’re making pie, is making pie because that stupid saying “easy as pie” is dumb and wrong.
This post should be living proof that making pie isn’t too hard. It takes a little organization, some frozen butter and a box grater.
I live and die by the grating of the butter with a box grater technique. I eliminates the annoying task of breaking up the butter–it’s already done for you!
Can I tell you that this pie crust is my new love. The rye pie crust is mixed with all-purpose so it’s still light and not too dense. The nutty, robust (I just used the word robust…) works really well with the slightly tart, sweet cherries. It’s a dreamy pie crust. And a dreamy pie.
Ingredients
Rye Pie Crust:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup rye flour
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons fine-grain sea salt
- 8 ounces 2 sticks unsalted butter, frozen
- 3/4 cup water cold, divided
Sweet Cherry Pie Filling:
- 4 tablespoons tapioca starch or sometimes it's called tapioca flour
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean caviar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
- 4 cups fresh cherries washed, stems removed and pitted
Topping:
- 1 large egg
- Splash of milk or water
- Turbinado sugar
- Maldon Sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, rye flour, sugar and salt. Using a box grater, grate the cold butter atop the flour mixture. Working quickly, and using your hands, break the butter bits into the flour until they're evenly distributed and resemble the size of small peas. Add 1/2 cup of water; mix the dough together until it just begins to clump together. The dough will shaggy. Add one tablespoon at a time until it starts to come together. I added an extra 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) of water.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured counter. Knead the dough a few times until it comes together and shape it into a mound. Shape the disc into 2 discs and wrap them in plastic wrap; transfer them to the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour or overnight.
- While the dough is chilling, make the filling! To a medium bowl, add the tapioca starch, sugar, vanilla bean caviar, cinnamon and salt; toss the mixture together, breaking the vanilla bean caviar with your hands, making sure it's evenly distributed. Add the cherries to the bowl and toss. Allow the mixture to sit for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, remove one of the discs of dough from the refrigerator. Liberally flour your work surface and rolling pin. Begin to roll the dough, being sure to rotate it every so often to avoid sticking, to a 14-inch round. Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and unroll it over the pie tin. Gently fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pie tin. Transfer to the refrigerator while you roll out the second disc of dough.
- Roll out the second disc of dough and slice ten to twelve strips that are about 12-inches long and about 2 1/2-inches wide. Lay the strips onto the top, making a lattice top (step-by-step instructions here).
- Trim the dough around the pie tin and using your thumb and forefinger, crimp the rim of the crust into a v-shape. Transfer the pie crust to the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Right before entering the oven, brush the top of the pie with egg wash. Top with a sprinkle on a bit of turbinado sugar and a few dashes of sea salt. Bake for 35 minutes, until medium golden brown. Remove the pie from the oven and tent with a piece of foil. Place the pie back into the oven and bake for an additional 35 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cherry filling is bubbling. Cool for 3 to 4 hours before slicing.
SUCH a gorgeous pie! I’m glad you’re a little obsessed with pies right now – keep ’em coming! 🙂
Oh rye. Such a good idea.
This is gorgeous! Such a dreamy little pie. I made some biscuits for my mama on Mother’s Day and I was so intimidated by the whole process until I got the the butter part. I remembered how you grate your butter with a box grater and it ended up working like a charm. You saved the day!
That looks delicious! I love cherry pie.
Gorgeous! And I never thought to grate butter with a box grater… I feel like this is a life changing moment for me. 🙂
This is stunning!! Love the look of that crust especially. Mmmm.
What a lovely pie! It looks like the pies my big mama made!
Amazing. That all I can come up with. Amazing and delicious!
Drooling!
This looks sooo yummy! I am sort of pie obsessed, too. It is definitely because of all the beautiful fruit right now. I saw some wonderful cherries last week and almost get them to make a pie, too. The rye crust is really lovely by the way.
I’m completely into pie making too right now! All that amazing fruit at the farmers’ market looks just too appealing to me…This pie looks gorgeous and I loved that you used different kind of cherries!
xo, Elisa
Yum! How heavenly
It looks so delicious and really beautiful. I think I need a piece or two for breakfast
I love how rustic this pie looks! Such a delight to have fresh cherries now. Could ground almonds be used to soak up the liquid inside the pie in stead of the starch?
What a beautiful pie! And the rye crust sounds amazing.