Sour Cherry Lattice Pie

Before you start

Sour cherries, often sold as Montmorency or pie cherries, are the fruit that makes cherry pie taste like cherry pie. They are too sharp to eat by the handful, but their acidity survives baking and balances the sugar. Sweet cherries such as Bing make a flat, jammy pie unless you add a lot of lemon. A lattice top suits this filling because the open weave lets steam out and shows off the deep red color.

Cherries are juicy, so the starch has to be measured and fully cooked. The filling is ready only after it bubbles thickly in the center of the lattice for several minutes; before that, cornstarch has not swelled and the pie will run. A touch of almond extract is traditional and sharpens the cherry flavor, but keep it small or it turns medicinal.

Ingredients

• Lattice crust340 g (2¾ cups) all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 225 g (1 cup) unsalted butter — cold, in 1 cm cubes
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar — stirred into the water
• 100–120 ml (7–8 tbsp) ice water
• Filling900 g (about 6 cups) pitted sour cherries — fresh, or frozen and thawed; keep the juice
• 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 36 g (4½ tbsp) cornstarch
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp almond extract
• pinch fine salt
• 15 g (1 tbsp) unsalted butter — cut into small bits
• Finish1 large egg — beaten with 1 tbsp cream
• 1 tbsp turbinado sugar

Method

1. Cut the butter into the flour, sugar and salt until the biggest pieces are pea-sized. Add the vinegar water gradually, tossing until the dough clumps when pressed. Divide in half, shape one disk and one rectangle, wrap, and chill for 1 hour.
2. Roll the rectangle on parchment to about 28 × 30 cm (11 × 12 in) and 3 mm thick. Cut ten 2.5 cm (1 in) strips with a ruler and pastry wheel. Slide the parchment onto a tray and refrigerate the strips while you finish the base.
3. Roll the disk into a 30 cm (12 in) circle and line the pie plate, leaving a 2 cm overhang. Refrigerate.
4. If using frozen cherries, drain the thawed juice into a small pan, boil it until reduced by half, and cool it. Stir the sugar, cornstarch and salt together first so the starch does not clump, then toss with the cherries, any reduced juice, lemon juice and almond extract.
5. Pour the filling into the crust and dot with butter. Lay five strips across the pie in one direction. Fold back every other strip, lay one strip crosswise, unfold, and repeat with the alternate strips until the weave is complete. Trim the strips flush with the overhang, fold the base edge up over them, and crimp.
6. Brush the lattice with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Refrigerate for 20 minutes while the oven heats to 220°C (425°F) with a baking sheet on the lowest rack.
7. Bake for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190°C (375°F) and bake 40 to 50 minutes more. The filling should bubble slowly and thickly in the center of the lattice for at least 5 minutes, and the strips should be deep golden. Shield the rim with foil if it darkens early.
8. Cool on a rack for at least 4 hours. Cherry filling sets as it cools; warm slices will slump.

Tips for success

• Work with cold strips. If they soften and stretch while weaving, slide the whole pie into the fridge for 10 minutes and continue.
• Weigh cherries after pitting. Pits account for roughly 10 percent of the weight of whole sour cherries.
• The vinegar in the dough is optional; many bakers find it makes the dough easier to roll, but it does not replace keeping the butter cold.

Substitutions

Fresh sour cherries

Use two 680 g (24 oz) jars of sour cherries in light syrup, drained. Reduce 120 ml of the syrup to 60 ml for the filling and cut the sugar to 150 g.

Sweet cherries

Possible, but reduce the sugar to 100 g and increase the lemon juice to 3 tbsp. The pie is mellower and less vividly red.

Cornstarch

Use 4 tbsp finely ground quick-cooking tapioca. It sets clear and slightly stretchy and tolerates freezing better.

Variations

Cherry and vanilla

Replace the almond extract with the seeds of half a vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Lattice with cutouts

Use six wide strips and fill the gaps with small star or leaf cutouts from the scraps.

Troubleshooting

Filling is runny even after cooling

The starch did not reach a full boil. Keep baking until the center bubbles, not just the edges, and do not reduce the cornstarch when using juicy frozen fruit.

Lattice strips shrank and pulled away

The dough was stretched while weaving. Lay strips without pulling, and chill the assembled pie before baking.

Filling bubbled over and burned on the oven floor

The plate was overfull. Always bake on a rimmed sheet, and leave 1 cm of headroom below the rim.

Storage

Cover loosely and keep at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerate for up to 4 days. A cold slice holds its shape best; warm it briefly if you prefer it with ice cream. Baked pie freezes for up to 3 months.

Safety notes

Raw pie dough is not safe to eat because uncooked flour can contain harmful bacteria. Contains wheat, milk and egg.