Pear Pie

I made this pie for my dad's arrive for Christmas.  I baked it the day he was expected to arrive.  I wanted my house to smell like pie, and it did.  Mission accomplished.  The fact that we ate pie for the next four days is beside the point.

When I read the reviews about this pie they were all fantastic.  They all said that everyone who tried it couldn't believe it was pear and not apple and that they all became huge fans of it.  I happen to love pear so I was hoping it would be  more like pear than apple and I think it really depends on what kind of pears you use.  I happened to buy a bag of pears at the grocery stores that has several different types in it.  There were Green Anjou, Bosc. and Red Bartlett.  Oh and by the way I'm totally guessing at these.  I used this as a reference. I tasted each one to see if there were any significant differences and guess what....there are. Some of them (the Green Anjou) seemed grittier but had nice flavor. The Bosc also seemed to have a grittier texture but not as pronounced as the Green Anjou and the Red one was the most flavorful, least gritty to me.  I think if you used all red in a pie it might seem more like apple because of the smooth texture.  Either way, I'm a pear pie fan now.

To start, you need to use your favorite pie dough recipe.  I used this one.

Begin by coring and slicing all of the pears and putting them into a medium to large bowl.

Place one of your pie crusts in a pie dish. Add the pears and alternate layers of pears and then the cinnamon sugar mixture.

When you get to the last layer, add the cinnamon sugar mixture and the butter pieces.  Now top with your remaining pie crust and cut vents for the steam to escape.

I topped my top crust with some milk and then sprinkled a little extra sugar on the top.

While baking, make sure you watch to make sure the edges don't get too dark.  If they begin to just put tin foil over them.  I didn't have any problems with mine however so you probably won't either.

I found this recipe here and didn't change a thing.

Pear Pie

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 cups peeled and sliced pears
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Add the flour, sugar, salt and zest to a small bowl and set aside.

Arrange one of the pie crusts in the pie dish with some slight overhang.  Layer in the pears and the cinnamon/sugar mixture until the pears and the sugar mixture are used up.  On the top layer add the Tbsp of butter that has been cut up into several pieces and dot the top and add the lemon juice.  Add the second pie crust on top, fold under any overhang and tuck under the over hang from the first pie crust layer, then use a fork or your fingers to flute the edges.  Cut the top of the pie crust to ventilate.  I added some milk and sugar on top but you could also use and egg wash or just leave plain.

Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and continue cooking for another 35-40 minutes.