cathyskitchenprescription.com
Pear Pie
Autumn is pear season.  If you enjoy pears like I do, you might love this dessert.  Instead of using some buttery pastry dough, try using digestible whole wheat sourdough, flavored with raisins and rosemary.  Sliced pears are baked on top with a simple apple glaze. Finally, it’s garnished with a light sprinkle of dried lavender petals and minced fresh rosemary.  So aromatic!  No sugar, fats, or refined flour, so no misgivings!
 
Super for health, pears are rich in pectin, a soluble fiber, vitamins C and K, potassium and magnesium.
 
Pear trees are facing several climate challenges: As the planet warms, budding has been disrupted by late frosts, flowering and pollinators’ timetables are increasingly out of sync. Extreme weather events, like torrential rains, drought, hail, frosts, and scorching heat, higher CO2 levels, have led to sweeter but less firm/more fragile pears with shorter shelf lives and lower yields.  At present, the climate footprint of pears on US farms is a low 0.18 kg CO2e/kg, with 57% of greenhouse emissions from the running of farm equipment, 16% from the manufacture and pesticides, 11% from the nitrous oxide produced by soil bacteria in the field, 4% from irrigation, 4 from the draining of wetlands, and 3% from the nitrous oxide produced by soil bacteria after leaving the farm (carboncloud.com).
 
Prep overnight to develop dough, plus 1 hour
Bake 10 minutes to pre-bake the dough, plus 30 minutes for the pie
Makes a 12-inch pie to serve from 6 to 8
 
1 12-ounce carton defrosted apple juice concentrate, reduced to syrup consistency
100 g raisins, soaked in water for an hour to soften, drained
216 ml spring water (do not use fluorinated or treated water)
250 g whole wheat flour
52 g whole rye or wheat sourdough starter
5 g white miso paste
4 tablespoons lemon juice
About 6 medium ripe pears, any variety, halved, pitted, cut in 3/8-inch slices
About 1 teaspoon dried, food-grade lavender leaves
About 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary needles, chopped finely
 
To make the apple glaze, pour the defrosted apple juice concentrate into a small pot. Bring it to a simmer and reduce the liquid until it lightly coats the back of a spoon. Cool. The reduction will continue to thicken slightly as it cools. It should easily spread on the dough with a pastry brush.  Add a spoonful of water, if it is too dense to brush on easily.
Soak raisins until they are fully hydrated (about 30 minutes). Drain.
Add the raisins and spring water to a medium bowl.  Use a Danish dough hook or wooden spoon to add whole wheat flour, stirring it well. Cover and autolyze for about an hour to allow the flour to fully hydrate.
Add the sourdough now. Wet your clean hand and pull and stretch the dough to mix the starter into the autolyzed dough.
After 10 minutes, add the miso paste, pulling and stretching the dough to blend the miso in fully.
Cover the bowl and rest the dough for about an hour. Wet your clean hand and pull and stretch the dough 4 to 5 times to develop the gluten. Cover and repeat 2 more times.
If it’s late in the day (or you are tired), instead of hourly pulling/stretching, place the bowl in the fridge to cold ferment overnight.  Then bring the dough back to room temp the following day, either on the counter, or in a proofing oven.
If you have a baking stone, insert it into the oven on the middle shelf. Preheat the oven to 450°F/425°F convection for 45 minutes to an hour.
Tear off a 15 by 15-inch parchment sheet and lay it on a peel or flat cookie sheet. Use a curved plastic dough scraper to transfer the dough to center of the paper.
Use wet hands to press the dough into a 12-inch circle, about 1/8 to 3/16-inch thick with a raised rim along the perimeter – much like an individual pizza.  Rewet your hands, as needed.
Slip the parchment with the dough onto a peel or rimless cookie sheet and slide it into the over on the very hot baking stone, if available, or onto the rack, if not.
Bake for about 10 minutes.  Use the peel/cookie sheet to transfer the par-cooked crust onto a cooling rack.  The crust should be firm, even darkening in places, although still a little soft. If it is soft or sticky, return it to the oven for another 5 minutes before proceeding.
Lower the oven temperature to 375°F/350°F convection.
After cooling for 5 minutes place the peel over crust and rack and flip them over. Very gently peel off the parchment paper.
In a medium-large bowl dilute the lemon juice with 1 cup of water.  
Cut the pears in half. Use a small melon baller to remove the seeds, and a paring knife to remove the stem and calyx.  Cut in 1/8 to 3/16-inch slices and submerse them in the acidulated water.
Use a pastry brush to apply a light coat of apple glaze to the pie crust, before arranging the pear slices on top. Place the slices, slightly overlapping, along the outer rim of the crust.  Then lay another overlapping circle of slices, facing them in the opposite direction.  Use small pear slices to fill in the small center circle.
Lightly brush the slices with apple glaze, taking care to not disturb their positions.
Sprinkle a little whole wheat flour on the peel, place the pie on top, and transfer it to the oven baking stone or rack. Bake for 30 minutes, checking at 20. When the fruit is soft and juicy and the crust has darkened and become crispy, remove the pie from the oven and transfer it to a cooling rack.  Brush the fruit and crust one final time with apple glaze.
Sprinkle lavender and rosemary lightly on top. Go lightly with the lavender; a little goes a long way. The pie should smell aromatic and appealing.
 Allow the juices to congeal, about 10 to 15 minutes, before slicing and serving.