Morello Cherry Pie

Adapted from Serious Eats.

See Flaky Pie Crust for the pastry.

• 800g pitted morello cherries (from approx 1 kg unpitted cherries).
• 30g lemon juice (1 small lemon) - optional, depending on your cherries
• 150g sugar
• 3g salt
• 40g corn flour / corn starch (original recipe asks for 40g tapioca starch)
• 1 egg for egg wash

Set the oven to 200C. Prepare a pie crust, I prefer a double crust. Blind bake the bottom crust for 10-15 minutes, if you want, to prevent soggy bottoms. I tend not to.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Put into the pie crust, top with other crust, crimp edges to taste, cut hole, apply egg wash, etc. Chill for 30 minutes.

Place on large baking sheet to catch overflow from juices. Bake to golden, approx 1 hour (can take a lot longer, so watch it). Cover with foil to prevent burning if necessary. If required, leave an extra 15 mins (or longer), until juices are bubbling. Or internal temp is 213F/101C.

Cool for 3 hours, or until 85F/30C.

This recipe is specifically for morello cherries; depending on the cherries, you may prefer to use more sugar. If you want to use eating cherries, experiment with perhaps a little less sugar and more lemon juice.