From local pig fat to buttermilk, pears to raw milk to fresh eggs, the front porch to Dixie ballads, this afternoon pie is a little bit of Tendernessee from me to you.
Course Dessert
Keyword buttermilk, gorgonzola, pear, pie
Prep Time 20 minutesmins
Cook Time 1 hourhr
Total Time 1 hourhr20 minutesmins
Servings 19″ double crust pie
Ingredients
2 1/2cups313 g all purpose flour (divided in half)
2Tbspsugar
1tspkosher salt
1/2cup1 stick cold, unsalted butter, diced
1/2cupchilled leaf lardyou can substitute butter or vegetable shortening here
1/4cup+ 2 Tbsp buttermilk
For Pear Pie Filling
1/2cup2 oz walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
5firm pearspeeled, cored & sliced thin, about 1/8″ (I use a handheld mandolin)
1/4cuplemon juice
1tsporange blossom water
1/2cup100 g sugar
1/4cup50 g dark brown sugar (light brown can be substituted)
3/4tspkosher salt
pinchof cayennegenerous if you’re me
1tspground cinnamon
1Tbspcornstarch
1-2ozgorgonzola dolceoptional, use according to your taste
turbinado sugarfor sprinkling
heavy creamfor brushing
Instructions
Combine 1 1/4 cup (about 156 g) flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of standing mixer. Set aside the other 1 1/4 cup flour. With the mixer on low add the diced cold butter and bits of cold lard a handful at a time. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Add other half of flour. Mix until just combined. Add buttermilk and mix until dough just comes together. Divide dough in half. Place each half on a piece of plastic wrap, form into a disc, and chill at least to two hours (preferably 3) and up to one day. Dough can be frozen, wrapped tightly, up to three months at this point.
For Pear Pie Filling
Heat oven to 425° F.
Toss pears with the lemon juice and orange blossom water once sliced. Mix sugar, dark brown sugar, salt, cayenne, cinnamon, and cornstarch in a bowl to combine. Toss the pears to coat with the sugar and spice mixture.
Roll out one half of the crust to fit the bottom of a 9″ pie pan. Place dough in pan, trim edge to 1″, tuck under, and crimp. Fill the crust with layers of pears, sprinkling between layers with the toasted walnuts. Once the pie is filled, dot the top with gorgonzola cheese (if using).
Top pie with the other half of the pie crust. You can do any sort of design you like or just do a simple double crust. (This Martha Stewart how-to is a great resource for decorative pie crust ideas.) Brush top crust with heavy cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes at 425° and then reduce the heat to 375° and bake for another 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is cooked through. After the first fifteen minutes, I use a crust shield on the edges of my pie to prevent it from getting too brown or burning. You can simply place aluminum foil over the outer crust to achieve this as well.
Cool on a rack & serve with a scoop of homemade oak & caramel ice cream for autumnal Tennessee in dessert form. Best shared, naturally, with friends.
Notes
For Buttermilk Leaf Lard Crust
This is my new favorite pie crust for sweet pastries (and for savory, simply omit sugar). If you don’t have a stand mixer the crust can be made the traditional way by simply mixing all the dry ingredients, cutting in the cold fat with a pastry cutter until it resembles course meal & no pieces larger than pea sized remain (there should be pieces of fat left though), and then mixing the buttermilk in until it just comes together when pinched being careful to not overmix.
For Pear Pie Filling
The gorgonzola and orange blossom water give what would otherwise be a rather rote filling a lot of personality. The traditional salty-sweet combo fares great in this sweet pie.