pear-and-ginger pie

[cellio]

This afternoon's barony meeting included a pie contest. Three categories were declared in advance: seasonal fruit, seasonal vegetable, and anything from a period source. Whimsy was also allowed, such as the geometrically-challenged rectangular apple dish. Until a few days ago I had been planning to enter a certain documentable apple/pear pie, but then the Cooks' Source thing happened and I figured that might be a popular choice. :-) (illadore is from our barony, though does not currently live here.) As it turned out, a fourth emergent category presented itself based on the entries: "stolen". :-) So I could have, but I didn't know that in advance so I instead skipped anything with apples and set out to experiment with pears.

Here's what I did, and I am not particularly fluent in dessert pies so I would definitely welcome feedback. (I was going to also make a savory one but discovered I was missing a key ingredient. Oops. Not that we wanted for pie to eat...)

Combine 1C sugar, about 2T ground ginger, and about 2T flour in a bowl. Peel and slice thinly six Bosc pears, and add to bowl. Stir until everything is distributed. Put filling into a 9" crust (deep-dish would have been better) and sprinkle the top with about a quarter cup of crystalized ginger (in very small pieces). Bake at 375 for about 50 minutes, covering the edges of the crust with foil for the first half.

I got the proportions of sugar, fruit, and flour from a modern recipe for apple pie. The pie was a little too juicy (some liquid spilled, too), so I needed more flour or less pear, I guess. But it's worth noting that the apple-pie recipe called for a top crust; I don't actually like pie crust all that much, so unless I'm redacting a period recipe that calls for it, I make my pies open. I don't know what effect that had on the juiciness.

I thought the pie was a little too sweet; next time I'll use no more than 3/4 cup of sugar.

I had expected the crystalized ginger to have more of an effect on the pie. And in fact, fresh out of the oven the little sample I baked alongside the pie was nicely gingery, but the full pie, cooled to room temperature, was not. Next time I'll mix the crystalized ginger in with the fruit.

This pie as I made it is parve. (I used a frozen pie crust that was also parve.) I wonder whether a little bit of butter in the filling would add to it (though then I'd have even more liquid on my hands).

Comments

[cellio]

Thanks for the tips. I hadn't considered draining.

This may sound like a dumb question, but what is a pizza stone and where do you get one? I mean, I gather that it's stone, but what kind? How thick? Anything special I should know about using one in a conventional (non-pizza) oven?

[frrom.livejournal.com]

Pizza stone, baking stone, hearth stone - all are the same thing. It is simply a shaped stone or stone-like material meant to bake with even heat. Pizza stones are the easiest to find at kitchen stores or larger department stores. The stones are generally the size of a large pizza, about 1/2 inch thick, and often come with a metal trivet to set them on. I simply leave my stone in the oven and set dishes, trays, etc on top.
Here are two examples from Crate and Barrel and Target.