Gluten-Free Tart Cherry Pie

Summary

Total Time: 3 hours and 5 minutes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes (2 additional hours)
Yield: 1 (9 inch) pie
Level: Beginner

Ingredients

  • Ingredients
  • 105 grams sorghum flour
  • 110 grams sweet rice flour
  • 70 grams cornstarch
  • 25 grams finely ground chia seeds
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons organic cane sugar
  • 12 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup ice cold water
  • 1 egg yolk, whisked
  • Filling
  • 5 1/2 cups frozen Montmorency tart cherries, thawed
  • 1 cup organic cane sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

  1. To make the dough: In a large bowl, combine the sorghum, sweet rice flour, cornstarch, ground chia seed, sugar, and salt. Grate the butter on onto a plate. Scatter the butter over the flour mixture and your fingers until the mixture resembles gravel, with lots of butter chunks the size of almonds.
  2. Add the almond extract and apple cider vinegar to the ice cold water, and slowly add it to the flour mixture, 2 tablespoons at a time, working the water in with a fork, being sure to moisten evenly. When you’ve finished adding the water, you should be able to squeeze the dough and it will stick to each other, yet still be shaggy and crumbly.
  3. Dump the dough out onto the clean counter and fraisageby pushing portions of the dough across the counter with the heel of your hand (this makes for a flakier dough). Then gather the dough into a ball, using a bench scraper. Wrap in plastic wrap or parchment, and flatten into a thick disk. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. Either way, gather the dough up into a ball. Use bench scraper to cut off 1/3 of the dough. Make both back into a ball. The smaller ball will be for your top crust cutouts. Wrap loosely in plastic wrap, and flatten it into disks. Chill the dough 30 minutes.
  4. Take the dough out of refrigerator and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Put the large disk of pie dough on a large sheet of parchment paper that has been dusted with sorghum flour. Dust the top of the dough with flour as well. Place a large sheet of parchment over the top of dough and begin to roll out into a circle, about 11-12 inches in diameter, turning the dough as you go. Put the sheet of dough that’s in between parchment onto a baking sheet, and chill for 5 minutes. Then take out, remove parchment sheets, and gently slide dough into your pie pan. Trim it to a one inch overhang using a scissors, then fold edge up and under to create a thicker edge. Flute the edges with your fingers, or press with a fork to create pretty indents.
  5. Prick the bottom and sides in random spots, then place pie plate with dough in freezer for 30-45 minutes. You can also refrigerate it overnight at this point, wrapped in plastic bag.
  6. Roll out smaller disk of dough in between parchment, so it is about 1/4 inch thick. Remove top sheet of parchment and cut out shapes. Place this sheet of parchment with dough onto baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Then remove scraps from the edges, and keep the cut out shapes in the refrigerator until you are ready to top the pie.
  7. To make the filling, mix thawed tart cherries with sugar and cornstarch. Add to a saucepan, and cook over low-medium heat, so just simmering at the sides, constantly stirring, until thickened to a syrupy consistency. It should coat the spoon. This will take about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in balsamic vinegar, vanilla extract, and sea salt. Let cool.
  8. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  9. Remove pie crust from freezer, and add cherry filling. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove. Brush pie crust cut-outs with egg wash, and place on top of filling. Return pie to oven for another 40 minutes, adding foil to the edges if they start to get too brown. Pie will be bubbling and golden brown when done.
  10. Store pie at room temperature for two days, then refrigerate.

Recipe courtesy of Amanda Paa, Heartbeet Kitchen