In the Oven: Lemon Shaker Pie

Posting date is March 17th. And heads up, you’ll want to start on those sugared lemons 48 hours before assembling your pie!

LEMON SHAKER PIE
Recipe source: Baked Elements, page 51

Ingredients:

1 recipe Classic Pie Dough (page 161)

Sugared Lemons (page 52)

4 large eggs, plus 1 large egg white, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon raw sugar

Dust a work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Roll out the first dough ball into a 12-inch round. Transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate and carefully work it into place, leaving a slight overhang. Using your floured work surface, roll out the second ball of dough into a 12-inch round, cover with plastic wrap, and reserve on a large plate in the refrigerator.

Remove the sugared lemon slices from the sugar and spread them out over the bottom of the prepared pie crust. Set aside the lemon sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk the 4 eggs slightly. Add the flour, cornstarch, salt, and butter and whisk again until combined. Add the reserved lemon sugar and whisk until combined. Pour the mixture into the pie crust, directly over the lemon slices, and top with the chilled dough round. Trim the dough, leaving a ½-inch overhang. Crimp the edges together, cut 3 steam vents into the top crust, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the pie from the refrigerator. Whisk the egg white, brush it over the top crust, and sprinkle with the raw sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking for another 25 to  30 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown and a paring knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out relatively clean.

Place the pie on a wire rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature or cover the pie and refrigerate for about 2 hours and serve chilled (a very popular method with a lot of our taste testers).

The pie can be stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 2 days. Serve while still slightly cool.

SUGARED LEMONS
Recipe source: Baked Elements, page 52

Normally, we would insist on blanching the lemons for this recipe, as the process of submerging the lemons in boiling water for a minute or two really tempers the bitterness and chewiness of the lemon peel. However, we found that many of our taste testers preferred a pure, bitter, and chewy lemon. We realize that blanching is an extra step, so to that end, we decided to write the recipe without the blanching step. If you decide to blanch (and we think it might be worth the extra step, we really do), then just bring a pot of water to a boil, remove the pot from the heat, drop in the lemon slices, stir for 1 minute, then transfer the slices to a bowl of ice water. Drain immediately and use as directed in the recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
2 lemons

Place the sugar in a large shallow bowl. Wash the lemons thoroughly, pat dry, and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes (this will make the lemons easier to slice). Zest one of the lemons, place the zest in the bowl with the sugar. Slice the ends off of the zested lemon and remove the pith (the white interior under the skin). Use a mandolin to slice the zested lemon into paper-thin slices. Make sure the lemon slices are sliced as thinly as possible or they will be too chewy (for us at least, though we know some of you prefer a chewier texture). Cut the ends off the second lemon, but do not zest and do not remove the pith. Again, use a mandolin to slice the lemon into paper-thin slices. Place both sets of lemon slices in the bowl of sugar (or blanch and drain the slices before adding to the sugar, if desired). Use your hands to gently toss them in the sugar to cover completely. Cover the entire bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for 48 hours, stirring the mixture with your hands about every 12 hours, to macerate.

CLASSIC PIE DOUGH

Recipe source Baked Elements, page 161

Yield: 2 9-inch single crust pies or 1 double-crust pie

3 cups all-purpose flour, chilled

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together. In a measuring cup, stir 3/4 cup of water with several ice cubes until it is very cold, discarding any remaining ice.

Toss the butter in the flour mixture to coat. Put the mixture in a food processor and pulse in short bursts until the butter pieces are the size of hazelnuts.

Pulsing in 4-second bursts, slowly drizzle the water into the food processor through the feed tube. As soon as the dough comes together in a ball, stop adding water.

Remove the dough from the food processor and divide it in half. Flatten each piece into a disk and wrap each disk first in parchment paper and then in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 1 hour. (The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. If frozen, thaw the dough in the refrigerator before proceeding with your recipe.)

Excerpted from Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Copyright © 2012 by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Excerpted by permission of Stewart, Tabori & Chang, an imprint of Abrams. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.