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Strawberry Pie

Strawberry pie is among the most popular desserts in all age ranges. Its soft and yummy pastry cream along with its fresh strawberries give an unmatched contrast of tastes. Let’s not forget its shortcrust pastry dough with its buttery melt in the mouth feeling. However acing this recipe has a few secrets!
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Total Time 2 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Servings 8 people
Calories 409 kcal

Equipment

  • Mixing Bowl
  • Medium Pot
  • Pie Mold
  • Spatula
  • Whisk

Ingredients
  

For the shortcrust pastry dough

  • 250 grams Flour T45
  • 125 grams Butter Melted
  • 50 mL Water
  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 1 pinch Salt

For the pasty cream (crème pâtissière)/Custard

  • 500 mL Milk Full Fat
  • 1 pod Vanilla
  • 3 Egg Yolks
  • 100 grams Sugar
  • 20 grams Flour T45
  • 20 grams Corn Starch
  • 1 Gelatin Sheet
  • 1 big bowl Water Cold
  • 40 grams Butter

For the decoration

Instructions
 

The Pasty Cream

  • Start by warming your milk on low to medium heat until it starts simmering
  • Remove it from the heat, cut the vanilla pod in half and keep it in the milk for an hour
  • Remove your vanilla pod and pour all of its grains in the milk and mix with a wooden spoon
  • Put your gelatin sheet in the bowl of cold water and let it absorb water for a good 15 mins
  • Beat the egg yolks with a whisk in a bowl
  • Add the sugar and whisk well
  • Pour the flour and continue whisking
  • Add the corn starch and whisk the mixture
  • Now, put the milk on medium heat until it starts boiling
  • As soon as it reaches its boiling point, remove the milk from the heat, pour 1/3 of the milk in the egg yolks, sugar, flour and corn starch mixture and whisk very well
  • Put back this mixture in the milk pot, put the pot back on medium heat and keep stirring. At this point you are cooking the cream
  • Then keep stirring until the cream thickens
  • Once you get a good creamy texture, remove the pot from the heat
  • Add right away the butter to the cream and whisk very well
  • Pull the gelatin sheet out of the water and squeeze it very well in order to drain it
  • Add it in the cream and mix very well
  • When everything is well mixed together, pour the cream in a clean stainless steel mixing bowl
  • Cover the newly obtained cream with a cling film, making sure it comes in contact with it to avoid any crust formation
  • Finally let it cool for some time (25-30 mins) until you can put it in the fridge (1 hour at least)

The dough

  • In a small bowl, add the egg yolk, the salt, the water and mix well together with a whisk
  • In a mixing bowl, add the flour, the melted butter (the melted butter must not be hot) and the whisked mixture from step 1
  • Using your hands, mix everything very well together until you obtain a dough
  • Do not knead the dough. We do not want to overheat it. Once it has come together, cover it with cling film and put in the fridge for an hour
  • After an hour, use some butter to grease your pie mold
  • Preheat your oven at 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit)
  • Take your dough out of the fridge, and roll it in a circle using your pastry roll
  • Roll the newly formed dough over the pastry roll and put it gently inside the pie mold
  • Make sure the dough has taken the shape of the mold and proceed using a fork to do several holes in it (this will avoid the dough to rise)
  • Put a baking sheet over the dough inside the bowl, and add some raw rice or raw beans (this will apply pressure to the dough to keep it thin)
  • Bake the dough for 12-15 mins, until you obtain this beautiful golden color
  • Remove the pie mold from the oven and place it on a cooling rack for a good 20 mins
  • Do not try to remove it while it’s hot to avoid breaking the cooked dough
  • Once it has cooled down, you can place the cooked dough on a large plate

The design

  • Cut your strawberries in 4
  • Pull the cream out of the fridge, remove the cling film and mix it with a spoon
  • Pour the cream inside the cooked dough and spread it evenly using a spatula
  • Start adding the strawberries in a circle, from outside to inside, with the tip pointing to the center
  • If you have any extra strawberries, add them in the middle over the others
  • Using a brush, soak it in our special syrup and start brushing the strawberries gently (this will make them shine)
  • At that point you can either cut the strawberry pie in 6 or 8 parts and start serving or you can cover it with some aluminium foil and put it in the fridge

Notes

Our Cooking Hints:

  • You can replace the fresh strawberries with frozen ones but make sure to leave them in the fridge oven night. Keep in my that you will also have to drain them from their water using a strainer before cutting them
  • You can replace strawberries with red fruits, kiwi, pineapples or even peaches
  • For some extra gourmandise, you can even add whipped cream on top of each slide of your strawberry pie or serve it with a scoop of ice cream!
Additional reading: Calories in Strawberry pie
Keyword custard, pie, strawberry