What's Baking: Apple-Pear Pie

Last week at the local farmers market I picked up a small bag of pears and a small bag of apples. I figured these two fruits would make an excellent filling for a pie. Though making a crust from scratch still makes me a little nervous, I decided that the only way I can get more comfortable making crusts is to practice, practice, practice! Admittedly, the pie wasn't all the pretty when I put it into the oven (my lattice work needs a little (meh, a lot of!) help), but the resulting pie actually didn't look too bad, and holy cow, was it delicious!

Apple-Pear Pie

makes 8 servings

For the pie crust:

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon raw sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup ice water (if you are at sea level, start with 4 tablespoons ice water, and add more if needed)

1. Add the flour, sea salt, and sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse several times to mix the ingredients together.

2. Add the small pieces of butter. Pulse until the ingredients look like coarse meal.

3. Slowly add 1/2 cup of ice water, pulsing in between additions. When the dough comes together in your fist, it is ready. Otherwise, continue to add water in tablespoonfuls.

4. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface. (I used a large cutting board.) Knead a couple of times to bring the dough together. Divide into two halves. Form each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.

For the fruit filling:

6 pears
6 apples

2/3 cup raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

juice from one lemon

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

zest from one lemon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Peel, core, and slice the pears and apples. Place the slices in a large bowl.

2. Mix in the lemon juice, sugar, and spices. Stir thoroughly to combine.
3. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the fruit mixture. Cook over medium heat until the fruit has softened, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the flour, lemon zest, and vanilla extract.
4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

To make the pie:

dough

fruit mixture

egg wash (1 egg mixed in 1 tablespoon water)

turbinado sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Roll out one half of the dough into a circle about 11-12 inches in diameter. Gently place the crust into a 9" pie plate. Cut off any excess dough. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork a few times.

3. Spoon the fruit filling into the pie plate.

4. Roll out the second piece of crust. Use a knife to cut eight equally-sized strips, about 1" wide. Place four of the strips vertically on the pie. Weave the other four strips horizontally through the vertical strips. Gently pinch the strips into the dough of the bottom crust.

5. Lightly brush the egg wash over the lattice pieces.

6. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the lattice pieces.

7. Bake in the oven 40-50 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

8. Remove from the oven and let cool.

9. Serve a la mode with a little scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.