I love cherries, especially the vividly coloured sour cherries that make the best sorbets and pies. Unfortunately, sour cherries are difficult to find outside areas where they are grown, because they are softer than black cherries. But black cherries are delicious for eating out of hand, and they can also make really good pies. I bake them into a deep-dish pie that takes 2kg of fruit. It’s difficult to cut the pie into tidy wedges – this much fruit means that each slice collapses onto the plate – but it’s still delicious. Deep-dish cherry pie with flaky pastry This flaky pastry isn’t the same as puff pastry, but it uses the same technique of repeatedly rolling or patting out the dough and folding it, to create airy layers. It can be difficult to get the correct amount of thickener (in this case, cornstarch) so that the filling has a sauce that oozes gently, instead of being runny. If the fruit you buy is very juicy, or if you want a thicker filling, use the larger amount of cornstarch. For the crust: 360 grams plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for rolling the dough ¾ tsp fine-grained sea salt 1 tsp granulated sugar 250 grams unsalted butter, chilled 80ml iced water 1 egg, for brushing the dough For the filling: 2kg fresh black cherries About 200 grams granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling ½ tsp fine sea salt 100-125 grams cornstarch 2 tsp almond extract 60ml fresh lemon juice 1 Cut the butter into 1cm chunks, then freeze them for 30 minutes. 2 Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor, add the sugar and salt, then process to combine. Add the chunks of frozen butter and process until the butter is the size of peas. 3 Transfer the ingredients to a large bowl and drizzle with the iced water. Mix with your fingertips until roughly combined – there will be damp (but not sopping wet) spots, and some dry spots. If the dough is very dry, add a little more iced water. Pastry picks: recipes for cream puffs, jam turnovers and eggnog tart 4 Turn the ingredients onto a clean, dry work surface and use your hands to pat them into a rectangle that’s about 24cm by 16cm. With the help of a metal spatula, lift the bottom half of the rectangle and fold it in half so it’s 12cm by 16cm; the dough will be crumbly and not cohesive at this point. Turn 90 degrees so the short side is nearest you, then pat it out again until it’s again 24cm in length. Repeat this patting, folding in half then turning the dough two more times, lightly dusting the work surface and your hands as necessary to prevent sticking. By the time you are finished, the dough will be quite cohesive, with visible streaks of butter. 5 Divide the dough into two uneven pieces – one with about two-thirds of the dough, for the bottom crust, with the remainder for the top crust. Shape the pieces of dough into discs, wrap with cling film and refrigerate for at least two hours (but longer is better; if I have the time, I let the dough rest for at least a day). 6 If the chilled dough is too firm to roll easily, leave it at room temperature until it’s malleable but still cool. Put the larger disc on a lightly floured work surface, dust it with flour and then roll it out into a large circle that’s about 3mm thick. Gently fit the dough over a deep-dish pie pan and settle it gently into the contours, taking care not to stretch the dough. Flute the edges, then trim off the excess dough (save the scraps). Chill for at least 45 minutes. How to make cheesecake – New York-style and a Basque version 7 Roll out the second piece of dough into a large circle that’s 3mm thick. Place the dough on a cutting board (or a parchment paper-lined baking sheet) and chill for at least 15 minutes. Use a sharp paring knife to cut free-form leaf shapes of different sizes. Separate the “leaves” from the trimmings. Shape the trimmings (and the scraps from rolling out the bottom crust) into a disc, wrap with cling film and refrigerate. 8 Crack the egg into a bowl and whisk it with 30ml of water. 9 Very lightly brush the leaf shapes with the beaten egg, then use a sharp paring knife to score the surface of each one to resemble the veins of a leaf. Refrigerate the leaves. 10 Take the dough trimmings from the fridge, roll them out and cut more leaf shapes, again brushing them with egg and scoring them before putting them in the fridge (you need a lot of leaves for the pie). 11 Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Lay a sheet of aluminium foil on a baking tray, to catch the drips from the pie as it bakes. 12 Pit the cherries, preferably using a device that removes the pits but keeps the fruit almost whole. 13 Mix 200 grams of sugar with the salt and cornstarch, then sprinkle this over the cherries and combine thoroughly. Add the almond extract and lemon juice and mix. Leave for about 15 minutes, then taste the fruit – if necessary, mix in more sugar. If there’s a lot of juice coming out of the fruit, mix in more cornstarch. A chocolate and caramel tart you’re bound to go nuts for 14 Stir the filling thoroughly, then put it into the prepared pie shell, mounding the fruit at the centre. 15 Starting from the middle of the pie, and using the largest leaves first, lay the leaves slightly overlapping in a decorative pattern over the filling, sticking them together with a little of the beaten egg. Don’t cover the pie entirely; leave several gaps to allow the steam to escape. 16 When the surface of the pie is almost completely covered with leaves, lightly sprinkle it with granulated sugar. 17 Put the pie on the foil-lined baking tray and bake at 220 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn the heat to 200 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes, turning the pie around halfway through so it bakes evenly. Reduce the heat to 180 degrees and bake the pie for another 30 minutes, or until the filling starts to bubble out of the crust, and the crust is golden brown. If the top crust starts to get too dark, drape a sheet of aluminium foil over it. 18 Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool for at least an hour before slicing it into wedges. via GIPHY