Sour Cherry Pie

The produce store on Murray Avenue had sour cherries for $5 per quart. I bought two and used most of them to make this sour cherry pie from Ken Haedrich's book.

It's the first time i've seen sour cherries in Pittsburgh. I hear you have to order them; I know April from Cookworm ordered a flat from Patty's in Aspinwall. If anyone knows other places to source them, let me know!

I thought making a lattice would be complicated, but it wasn't. The book's clear directions and illustrations made the process simple and fun. I've tried four recipes from this book this week and i've liked them all. Right now I have a strawberry rhubarb pie in the oven- i'll let you know how it turns out.

Lattice-Top Deep-Dish Sour Cherry Pie
adapted from Ken Haedrich's Pie

1 recipe Flaky Pie Pastry

Filling:
6 cups fresh sour cherries, stemmed and pitted
1 1/4 cups + 3 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Glaze:
Milk or light cream
Sugar

1. Roll the disk of pastry into a 13.5 inch circle between two sheets of wax paper. Peel off the top sheet of paper. Invert the pastry over a 9.5 inch deep-dish pie pan, center, and peel off the paper. Gently tuck the pastry into the pan without stretching it. Sculpt the overhang into an upstanding ridge. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

2. Place the cherries in a large bowl. Mix sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl, then stir the mixture into the fruit. Add the lemon juice and zest. Set aside for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400F.

3. On another sheet of wax paper, roll the remaining pastry into a 12x10 inch rectangle. Cut the pastry into 8 lengthwise strips, each 1.25 inches wide. You should have at least 8. Set aside.

4. Turn the filling into the chilled pie shell. Smooth the top of the filling and dot it with the butter. Lay 5 pastry strips vertically across the pie, evenly spaced. Fold back strips 2 and 4 and lay another strip directly across the center of the pie. Unfold the folded strips, then fold back strips 1, 3, and 5. Lay another perpendicular strip across the pie. Unfold the folded strips, then fold up strips 1, 3, and 5 on the other side of the pie. Place another perpendicular strip across the pie, then unfold strips 1, 3, and 5. Trim the strips, then pinch the ends of the strips into the edge of the pastry. Lightly brush the strips with milk and sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar.

5. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375F and rotate the pie 180 degrees. Just in case, slide a large baking sheet onto the rack below to catch any spills. Bake until the top is golden brown and any visible juices bubble thickly, 35-40 minutes.

6. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

Photo Update

I've repaired all of the dead photo links, with exception of a few from 07/2007. I've also uploaded a ton of archived photos to flickr. Enjoy, and thanks for your patience with the fix!

Friday Pie-Day

My friend Emily has this thing called "Friday Pie-Day." It involves making pies on Thursday night and delivering them to work the next morning. She wanted to improve her pie technique (which was excellent to begin with), so we met up in Squirrel Hill and made four pies: two Peach and Sour Cherry with Oatmeal Crumb Topping, and two Mixed Berry Crumb.

We baked for a good five hours, stopping to eat dinner and run to the store for extra flour and cornstarch. While the pies were baking, we watched the latest episode of So You Think You Can Dance. It was a nice change of pace; it's been a while since I baked with a friend, in someone else's kitchen.

Pies aren't an exact science. Eventually, you learn to make them intuitively- adjusting quantities of sugar, water, and thickener as needed, and changing the fillings using what you like or what's on sale.

Learning to make pie has been a process of trial and error. I made the dough by hand, with a stand mixer, and with a food processor. I tried adding vodka and vinegar to my crusts to make them more tender. I tried rolling my crusts directly on the counter, between sheets of plastic wrap, and inside of gallon-sized ziplock bags. I've been making pies for years, and I still think there's more to learn.

If you make enough pies, your personal preferences will take over. For a long time, the only recipe I made was printed on cardboard Crisco wrappers. I made all of my crusts with butter-flavored shortening, because that was what my mother used. Now, I have a preferred arsenal of crust recipes, and several pies that I make repeatedly. I rarely follow recipes exactly.

In the case of last Friday's pies, I reduced the amount of sugar in both recipes. I substituted sour cherries for bing cherries and raspberries for a mixture of rasperries, blackberries, blueberries, and cherries. Both recipes came from Ken Haedrich's Pie. It's a great book, though some of the 300+ recipes are better than others. I'll leave you with the recipe for the Peach and Cherry pie.

Flaky Pie Pastry (for a double crust)
adapted from Ken Haedrich's Pie

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1/2 cup cold water

1. Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and pulse the machine 5 or 6 times to cut it in. Fluff the mixture with a fork, lifting it up from the bottom of the bowl. Scatter the shortening over the flour and pulse 5 or 6 times. Fluff the mixture again. Drizzle half of the water over the flour mixture and pulse 5 or 6 times more, until the dough starts to form clumps. Overall, it will look like coarse crumbs. Dump the contents of the processor bowl into a large bowl. Test the pastry by squeezing some of it between your fingers. If it seems a little dry and not quite packable, drizzle a tsp or so of cold water over the pastry and work it in with your fingertips.

2. Using your hands, pack the pastry into 2 balls, making one slightly larger than the other; this larger will be your bottom crust. Knead each ball once or twice, then flatten into 3/4 inch disks on a floured work surface. Wrap the discs in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight before rolling.

Peach and Sour Cherry Pie

Pie dough for a single crust

Filling:
4 cups peeled, pitted, and sliced ripe peaches
2 cups sour cherries, stemmed and pitted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp corn starch
Big pinch of ground nutmeg

Oatmeal Crumb Topping:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned or quick cooking)
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1. If you haven't already, prepare the pie dough and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.

2. On a sheet of lightly floured waxed paper, roll the pastry into a 13-inch circle with a floured rolling pin. Invert the pastry over a 9.5 inch deep dish pie pan, center, and peel off the paper. Gently tuck the pastry into the pan, without stretching it, and sculpt the overhang into an upstanding ridge. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

3. Combine the peaches, cherries, granulated sugar, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix well, then set aside for 10 minutes to juice. Preheat the oven to 400F.

4. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir the mixture into the fruit along with the nutmeg. Turn the filling into the chilled pie shell and smooth the top of the fruit with your hands. Place the pie on the center oven rack and bake for 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, make the crumb topping. Put the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor and pulse several times to mix. Scatter the butter over the top and pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Empty the crumbs into a large bowl and rub them between your fingers until you have large, buttery crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.

6. Remove the pie from the oven and reduce the temperature to 375F. Carefully dump the crumbs in the center of the pie, spreading them over the surface with your hands. Tamp them down lightly. Return the pie to the oven, placing it so that the part that faced the back of the oven now faces forward. Just in case, slide a large aluminum foil-lined baking sheet onto the rack below to catch any spills. Continue to bake until the top is dark golden brown and the juices bubble thickly at the edge, 35-40 minutes. If the topping starts to get too dark, loosely cover the pie with tented aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes of baking.

7. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

On Yogurt

An 2004 industry report on the US yogurt market estimated that market value in 2008 would be $5,023 million. Apparently, our country eats a lot of yogurt.

The market is dominated by General Mills and Groupe Danone (Dannon is their US subsidiary), whose yogurts I tend to avoid. The grocery stores I visit have a wide selection, and i've become particular about my choices.

I don't like very sweet yogurt, or yogurt that masquerades as dessert. I don't want to see the words pie or mousse anywhere on the container. It shouldn't have extra digestive aids, vitamin supplements, cooked grains, or anything that needs to be mixed in. Even the president of Fage said mixing ruins the yogurt.

Packaging and branding can be particularly misleading. There are differences between "all-natural" and "organic" yogurts (the latter cannot contain bovine growth hormones). Many premium brands are subsidiaries of larger companies. Rachel's and Horizon Organics are both owned by Dean Foods. Stonyfield Farms and Oikos are both owned by Danone. Chobani is owned by Agro-Farma Inc, who used to manufacture Oikos for Stonyfield.

That said, I choose my yogurt for taste and texture. I tend to stick to low-fat yogurt, as full-fat is a little rich for everyday eating, and non-fat just doesn't taste right. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

Plain Yogurts: Seven Stars Farm low-fat, Fage 2% and 0%, Trader Joe's organic low-fat and low-fat kefir, Whole Foods organic low-fat, Wallaby low-fat, Emmi

Flavored Yogurts: Wallaby peach, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, banana-vanilla, Emmi apricot, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, Trader Joe's green tea, vanana, Chobani vanilla bean, honey

I haven't tried making my own yogurt yet, but one of my neighbors recommends Harold Mcgee's recipe. No yogurt maker required- all you need is a heated bowl or thermos.

Further reading:

Anstine, Jeffrey. "Organic and All Natural: Do Consumers Know the Difference?." Journal of Applied Economics & Policy 26, no. 1 (May 2007): 15-28.

"Yogurt in the United States." Yogurt Industry Profile: United States (February 2004): 1.

Berry, Donna. "It's a Jungle Out There." Dairy Foods 110, no. 4 (April 2009): 30-38.

Devil's Food Cake with Espresso Frosting

It takes a certain level of commitment to make a layer cake. You need time, space, equipment, and ridiculous amounts of butter. You also need patience and a steady hand, if you want a smooth finish and even piping. Most importantly, you need practice.

It is expensive to practice making layer cakes, so I don't make them very often. Still, I like to have a few in my repertoire for birthdays and celebratory occasions. A homemade cake can be much cheaper (and in my opinion, better) than a store-bought cake, and making one can be a fun way to spend an afternoon.

If you're worried about how the cake will look, you can always make a batch of frosting (or mashed potatoes) and practice piping on a cake pan. For this cake, you'll need about 5 cups of frosting. I used an easy recipe for espresso frosting- if you prefer vanilla, you can omit the espresso powder. You can also substitute your favorite buttercream.

The layer cake recipes in The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book are very forgiving, and I recommend them if you like step-by-step photographs and tips. I've also had success with cakes from Tish Boyle's The Cake Book and Flo Braker's The Simple Art of Perfect Baking.

Devil's Food Cake with Espresso Frosting
adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
For the cake:
1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups boiling water
4oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tsp instant espresso powder
10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and preheat to 350F. Grease 3 8-inch round cake pans, then dust with cocoa powder and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the boiling water, chocolate, 1/2 cup cocoa, and instant espresso together until smooth.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

3. With the mixer on low, beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredients followed by 1/2 of the chocolate mixture. Repeat with half of the remaining flour and the remaining chocolate. Beat in the remaining flour until just incorporated.

4. Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans, smooth the tops, and gently tap the pans on the counter to settle the batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 15-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.

5. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cakes, then flip them out onto wire racks. Peel off the parchment and flip cakes right side up. Let cool completely before frosting, about 2 hours.

For the frosting:
4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp table salt
3 tsbp instant espresso powder
4 cups confectioners' sugar


1. Beat the butter, cream, vanilla, salt, and espresso powder together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes.

2. Reduce the speed to medium-low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar, and beat until smooth, 4-6 minutes. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, 5-10 minutes.

Lemon-Blueberry Cake

Blueberries are on sale everywhere, it seems.

This cake was a variation on the Perfect Party Cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my Home to Yours. I added blueberries and a tart lemon curd from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.

Summer isn't an ideal season for transporting layer cakes. It was about 90 degrees in the car and the piping details started to melt. Luckily, the cake arrived at its final destination in one piece.

My favorite part of this recipe was the lemon curd. I've been pleased with the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. It has a good balance of sweet and savory recipes for different skill-levels, and I think it would make an excellent gift for the novice baker.

Desserts I Dislike: Clafoutis

The beautifully photographed clafoutis in Sarah Raven’s In Season convinced me to try the recipe. It was a bad idea. Clafoutis is a dessert that I just don’t like, even when expertly executed.

I’m convinced that Clafoutis (clah-foo-tee) is a dessert whose prevalence is tied to excess or abundance. Unless I happen to have pounds of cherries lying around, I’d rather make any other fruit dessert: a crumble, crisp, cobbler, pie, pandowdy, shortcake, etc. When Pittsburgh cherries cost anywhere from 3.99-7.99 per pound, it seems tragic to waste them on a glorified pancake.

The traditional cherry clafoutis is made with unpitted cherries. I know few people who want to work around pits during dessert. While most recipes (simple mixes of flour, eggs, sugar, and milk) seem designed to highlight the fruit, the low fat content makes them bland and rubbery. I have yet to make a clafoutis recipe that lived up to its promise of “custard-like” texture. If you want custard, why not make a flan?

If you still want to make it, know that Clafoutis is best served shortly after baking, while it’s puffed and warm. I think it’s most attractive when served in individual portions or a cast-iron skillet, preferably with some ice cream or powdered sugar on top.

Does anyone else dislike clafoutis?

NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies

My boss bit into a cookie, looked at it thoughtfully and said, "this might be the best cookie i've ever had." It was good: crunchy at the edges and chewy in the middle, with strong chocolate and butterscotch flavors and a hint of sea-salt.

Are they worth the 36 hours of resting time? I'd say yes, provided that you follow the directions exactly. The ingredients, size, and technique make the cookie.

All-purpose flour will not yield the same results as the combination of cake and bread flours. Since chocolate is the featured flavor, it's important to use good-quality chips/discs/feves. I prefer using thin discs of couverture because they melt nicely and stack well within the cookie. Very large pieces won't distribute evenly. Small pieces aren't as prominent or indulgent (this vs this).

If you like small cookies, I wouldn't recommend using this recipe. You'll lose the crunchy/chewy contrast, and the cookies will be done before they're really golden. The original recipe calls for 99g portions, which were best. Ultimately, I settled for 80g portions because they were a little more manageable for one person.

I recommend using a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients and portions. Your cookies will be more consistent, and they'll look uniform and bake evenly. Good cookie sheets and an evenly-heating oven don't hurt either.

This recipe is fairly popular, as is Cook's Illustrated's recipe for "Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies" and Alton Brown's "The Chewy." Personally, i'm still a fan of David Lebovitz's recipe. I'd make any of those recipes, depending on the occasion and audience.

You can find the New York Times recipe here.

Experimental Meringue Roulade

Meringue is a tricky thing. It gets sticky in humid weather. It weeps when over or under beaten, or when the sugar doesn't dissolve completely. It can be cooked or uncooked, and range in textures from light and fluffy to dense and stiff. And, when prepared badly with poor eggs, it can taste horrible.

Harold Mcgee's entry on egg foams in On Food and Cooking will tell you everything you need to know about when and how to add sugar to egg whites. A basic knowledge of meringue-science can help you know what to expect from a recipe (and know when it's written badly).

I prefer the smooth, marshmallowy texture of cooked meringues. I love the meringue cookies from Tartine- they're crisp on the outside, but chewy in the middle. I love the mountain of meringue on the Lemon Meringue Pie from the LA Times. I can live without the wet, spongy, eggy meringue that tops so many pies.

I also like meringues with texture and flavor contrasts, like vacherins or pavlovas, or meringue based cakes filled with cream and fruit. Jin Patisserie makes a great one filled with mango and strawberries.

I'd hoped this Meringue Roulade from Sarah Raven's In Season would be similar. The original recipe is baked in a half sheet pan and filled and topped with raspberries. I decided to test a half batch in a 9x13 pan, and i'm glad I did because it was enough for 6-8 servings.

The unsweetened whipped cream filling is a nice contrast to the sugary meringue. Without the fruit, however, the finished cake is rather plain. This would be a great recipe to showcase ripe summer fruits.

As much as I liked the concept of this dessert, I'm not I preferred the meringue to a light sponge cake. I also added half a sheet of gelatin to the whipped cream filling to make it slice better and maintain its texture. It worked well, and I recommend adding 1 sheet to the full recipe.

Meringue Roulade with Raspberries
Adapted from Sarah Raven’s In Season

Sunflower oil, for the pan
6 egg whites
1 ½ cups superfine sugar
3 tbsp sliced almonds
1 ½ cups heavy cream
2 cups fresh raspberries (or other berries)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a swiss roll baking pan (I used a 13x18 sheet), with parchment paper and brush with oil.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl, until very stiff. Gradually add the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, whisking between each spoonful. Once the sugar has been added, continue whisking until the mixture is thick and glossy.

Spread the meringue mixture into the prepared pan and scatter with the sliced almonds. Place the pan near the top of the preheated oven and bake for 8 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325F and continue baking until golden brown. Don’t cook too long, or the meringue will be difficult to roll.

Remove from the oven and turn the cake, almond side down, onto a sheet of wax paper. Peel off the paper and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Whisk the cream until it stands in stiff peaks (if you’re adding gelatin, add it towards the end of whipping) and gently fold in half of the raspberries. Spread the cream and berries over the meringue. Letting the wax paper help you, roll the long side fairly tightly until it is all rolled up. Wrap in parchment paper and chill before serving. Scatter the rest of the berries on top to serve.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

The first time I visited Kitchen Arts and Letters, I had no idea what I wanted. There were professional cookbooks, vintage cookbooks, international cookbooks, baking books, preserving books- essentially any title a home cook would want.

Feeling lost, I asked an employee to recommend a simple-but-really-good cookbook for everyday use. He handed me Cucina Fresca by Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman and started raving about a marinated wild rice salad. I flipped through the first few chapters and decided it was perfect.

Since then, i've seen the book repeatedly mentioned in print and on the web. It's quickly become one of my favorites. Most of the recipes feature bold, fresh flavors from ingredients like herbs, meats, oils/extracts, and citrus, and techniques like marinating and grilling. I make the herb-stuffed eggplant and this roasted red pepper soup on a fairly regular basis.

Since this soup is so simple, the quality of ingredients used will significantly impact the taste. Homemade chicken stock would taste best, but i've had good results using Swanson and Kitchen Basics brands. I use canned San Marzano tomatoes. While the original recipe says to seed whole canned tomatoes, I think diced tomatoes would taste just as good (and save some time).

I like eating this soup warm, garnished with some grated parmesan and slivered basil.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup
adapted from La Place and Kleiman's Cucina Fresca

4 meaty red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, and seeded
2 cups imported italian canned tomatoes, seeded and drained
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
3 cups defatted chicken stck
salt and freshly ground black pepper
basil leaves for garnish
paper thin lemon slices, for garnish

Puree three of the peppers and all of the tomatoes in a food processor or blender until finely textured but not completely smooth. Cut the remaining pepper into thin julienne strips and set aside.

Gently heat the olive oil and garlic. When the garlic releases its fragrance, after about 2 minutes, stir in the pureed pepper and tomato mixture. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Let the soup cool, then cover and chill in the refrigerator. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls. Tear basil leaves into pieces and scatter over soup. Float a lemon slice in each bowl.