Tag: Pastry dough

Lattice Plum Pie

Sweets & Desserts

Looking at the plums growing in the back garden, I gather that we will have a bountiful of harvest comes August/September. Our plum trees are positively abloomed in colours of pinks and whites.

I would have enough plums to make my favourite pie, a family favourite actually.

helpful tipsHere is a recipe that is easy to follow. The lattice effect is not that hard to do and to add the shine into the lattice, brush it with beaten egg white.

Lattice Plum Pie

Lattice Plum Pie
Photo by Jean Morton

 

 

 Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 pounds  ripe plums, pitted and halved
  • 1 1/4 cups caster sugar (fine white sugar)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoon water
  • Ready made pastry dough ( see recipe below for making your own pastry dough)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preparation

  1. Move rack to lower third of oven.
  2. Preheat oven to 204°C.
  3. Make the filling by heating the plums, sugar, lemon juice in 2 tablespoon of water.  Mix well and let simmer very gently.
  4. Roll the ready-made dough into an 11-to-12-inch round and fit gently into a 9-inch pie pan. Crimp edge.
  5. Transfer the filling into pie shell.  Add dots of butter.
  6. To make the lattice top, roll out remaining piece of dough into a 12-inch round. Cut into 12 strips, each 3/4 inch wide. Lay 6 dough strips evenly over pie, using longer strips in center and shorter ones on sides. Let your inner artist do the titivating. 😉
  7. Fold back every other strip to its midway point. Place a new strip at a 90-degree angle over unfolded strips. Unfold folded strips, crossing new one. Then fold back alternate strips and place another new strip parallel to first one. Continue weaving in this fashion so that you have 3 strips on this half of pie. Then weave crust on other half of pie in same fashion.

helpful tipsIf this is your first time to “weave” pastry dough, it might be useful to practise using cut-out pieces of papers.  I am sure it would come to you immediately those childhood memories of doing instinctive bit of origami, folding and refolding bits of papers and plastics!

     8.Place pie on baking sheet and bake until filling is bubbly and crust is golden, about 1 hour.

9. Transfer to a rack to cool for about 1 hour before serving.

10. Serve with double cream or custart

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Basic Recipe for Pastry Dough
INGREDIENTS
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (Plain flour in the UK)
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces
  • 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
  2. Add the butter, which should have been cut into little pieces into the dry ingredients.  Using a blender or your hand, incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients for about 4-5 minutes.
  3. Drizzle in 4 tablespoons of the ice water and mix just until the dough comes together. Add another tablespoon of ice water if required.
  4.  Cover the dough in cling film or  plastic wrap then bang it into the fridge for at least half an hour.
  5. Make your pie.