Perfect Strawberry Pie – Easy Recipe

This is simply the best strawberry pie. It has a wonderfully cake-like pastry base. Then a fillling comination of cooked and macerated strawberreis. The top is more pastry, but chilled and grated for a wonderful texture.

However, don’t think this is a difficult recipe, even though there are a few stages. It is actually very simple.

I love the combination of the cooked strawberries in a thickened juice and the softened sweetness of macerated strawberries. It makes a great filling.

The pastry too is wonderful. The base, fully cooked through, is soft and cake-like. The same pastry, grated on the top, firms up to give a crunchy texture too..

So, lets talk about the stages. I think there are four. Though none of them are difficult. First is to macerate some strawberries in sugar to release juice, which is discarded. The maceration intensifies the strawberry flavour. The next stage is to cook some strawberries in some sugar and butter. Then they are thickened well. Stage 3 is to make the simplest and tastiest of pastries. The final stage is to assemble the pie and bake it.

What could be simpler?

However there is one additional stage. That is to eat and enjoy the tastiest of pies for dessert. It can be served with cream, ice-cream or whatever you may like.

Just a word on thickening the cooked strawberries. This can be done with cornflour(cornstarch). However, in this instance, I didn’t create a slurry. Rather I sprinkled the cornflour over the hot strawberries and stirred it in. But if you prefer, to ensure there are no lumps, you can create a slurry. Another consideration is how much cornflour to use. I used 1 tablespoon(8g), having cooked my strawberries to reduce the liquid. But, depending on how much liquid is released from the strawberries, you may need to adjust the amount of thickening agent. The important thing is to have a thick mixture that seems ‘gloopy’ when cooled.

Although the can eat the pie warm I think it is better when completely cooled, or chilled. That makes it much neater when slicing. A warm pie may ooze a little where a cooled one will hold the shape of the slice.

My Pie

I cooked 600g(21 oz) strawberries as described. I also macerated 200g of strawberries. Then I made my pastry. I chilled about 1/3 of it in the freezer while lined my tart/pie tin with the remainder. For that I rolled mine out but it is soft enough to just be pressed into the pan and up the sides too. I grated my chilled pastry on the side.

Then I spooned the warm cooked strawberries into the pastry and pressed the macerated ones into the cooked filling.

After that I sprinkled the grated pastry over the top and baked the pie for 40 minutes. The top browned nicely during that time.

I allowed the pie to sit in the pan for 30 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack. Then, when just about cooled(mine was still a little warm as i couldn’t wait any longer), I sliced it and had a taste.

The pastry base was fully cooked though, and had a lovely soft texture. The filling was so flavoursome, with the wonderful strawberries that were not too sweet. That texture was great too. Then the top was crunchy, like a crumble.

Altogether the pie tasted fantastic.

Another lovely pie recipe is: Apple Pie with a Crumble Top

Perfect Strawberry Pie – Easy Recipe

Recipe by geoffcooCourse: Desserts, Pies, TartsDifficulty: Easy

Servings

10

servings

Prep time

40

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• Pastry

• 350g(2 1/3 cups, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour

• 6g(1 1/2 tsp) baking powder

• 1 medium egg(large in USA)

• 125g(10 tbsp) caster sugar

• 154g(11 tbsp) softened unsalted butter

• 1.5g(1.4 tsp) salt

• zest from one lemon

• Cooked Strawberries

• 600g(21oz) strawberries, hulled and chopped into chunks

• 100g(1/2 cup) caster sugar

• 30g(2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp) unsalted butter

• 8g(1 tbsp) cornflour – see note below

• Macerated Strawberries

• 200g(7 oz) strawberries, hulled and chopped into chunks.

• 25g(2 tbsp) caster sugar.

Directions

• First combine the 200g of strawberries with the 25g sugar, and set aside for about 40 minutes, as you work on the remaining steps.
• Place the 100g sugar into a large pan and heat it gently until it dissolves into a liquid, turning up the heat as it begins to melt.
• Add the 30g butter and allow it to dissolve, turning up the heat until the mixture bubbles.
• Add the 600g strawberries and stir them in, then allow the mixture to cook until all the juices are released.
• As the juices begin to reduce in the pan add the cornflour onto the top and stir well to avoid lumps(or use a slurry instead).
• Stir the mixture all the time, gently, until it has thickened well. Then set aside to cool somewhat.
• Place the sugar into a large bowl and add the lemon zest. Rub the zest into the sugar to release the oils.
• Add the butter and whisk until fully combined with the sugar.
• Pour in the egg and whisk again to combine.
• Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour.
• Pour the flour, in two additions into the wet mixture and mix together until it starts to clump.
• Squeeze the mixture into a nice soft ball of dough.
• Divide the dough into two pieces of one third and two thirds.
• Chill the smaller piece of dough in the freezer.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F.
• Grease a 23 cm/9 inch tart tin, or pie dish. Line the base with parchment if you wish(I did).
• Roll out the the larger piece of dough into a circle large enough to fill the pan.
• Place it into the pan and press around the edges, patching if necessary.
• Grate the chilled pastry onto a plate or similar.
• Spoon the cooked strawberries in the the pasty and spread to level it off.
• Drain the juice from the macerated strawberries and set it aside.
• Gently press those strawberries into the filling.
• Sprinkle the grated pastry over the top, evenly.
• Bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is cooked and has brown nicely.
• Remove the pie from the oven and leave it in the pan for 30 minutes. Then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Notes

• For the cornflour you can make a slurry with the same amount of water if you wish. Also you can adjust the amount of cornflour according to how much liquid has to be thickened. Add more if needed until the mixture is nice and thick.