Simple Strawberry Pie

This weekend, a simple strawberry pie was on the menu. Not difficult to make, it just takes some time, but it is oh so tasty. I prefer to make the strawberries and pastry cream a day earlier.

Step 1: What Do You Need:

For the dough:
Ingredients:
250 g flower
Pinch of salt
Teaspoon of sugar
125 g unsalted butter
Ice cold water

Tools:
Beans / rice or special ceramic marbles for blind baking.
Scale
Food processor (but can also be done by hand)
Teaspoon
Bowl
Cup
Knife
Baking paper
Baking mold
Crisco

The filling consists of a layer of pastry cream, strawberry yoghurt and strawberries finished with whipped cream.

For the preparation of the filling:
The pastry cream
Ingredients:
700 ml of milk
6 egg yolks (save the egg whites for something else, eg ‘Haagse Bluf’ a Dutch dessert, for those who want to try it: there a recipe at the end of this instructable.)
120 g sugar
30 g self-made vanilla sugar or 2 bags of vanilla sugar
35 g flour
35 g custard

Tools:
Pan
Bowls
Scale
whisk
Sieve
Flat dish
Plastic foil
Spatula

Strawberry marinade:
Ingredients:
450 g strawberries
1/2 cup caster sugar
Lemon zest
1 shot glass Amaretto (option)

Tools:
Airtight storage box
Knife
Paper towel
Cutting board
Cup
Spoon
Sieve

Yogurt layer:
1 strawberry yogurt cup (113 gr)
marinade from strawberries
2 sheets of gelatin

Tools
Pan
Wisk
Bowl
Sauce Spoon

For the topping:
Whipped cream or spray cream
Option: Roasted almond shavings

Step 2: The Strawberries

Clean, dry and halve the strawberries. Place them in a storage box with the inside facing up, forming a layer. Take half a cup of sugar and add a tablespoon of lemon zest. (Grate 1 lemon mixed with a bit sugar and some lemon juice) and stir well. Sprinkle the strawberries with this mixture. Repeat this until all the strawberries are gone. Option: finally sprinkle a shot glass of Amaretto over the strawberries and put the strawberries in the fridge preferable overnight or for at least 2 hours

Step 3: The Pastry Cream

Mix the yolks with the sugar and stir until smooth. Add the flour and custard by using a sieve. Meanwhile heat the milk to the boiling point but do not let it boil. Turn off the heat as soon as the milk reaches the boiling point. Now add a small dash of milk to the egg mixture and stir until the milk is absorbed, add a little more milk and stir again. Repeat this until all of the milk has been used. Put the mixture in the pan and heat to a boiling point. Stir well and keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken. Stir well over the bottom to avoid burning. To reduce the risk of burning, I use a flame distributor with a gas stove. Once the mixture has the thickness of custard, turn the heat source off and remove the pan from the heat source. Continue to stir for another minute or two until it is a smooth custard. The pastry cream is ready and just needs to cool. Put the cream in a flat dish and cover with plastic, make sure the wrap is touching the entire surface it prevents of forming a skin. Once the cream has cooled, put it in the fridge. Cream stays good in the fridge for a day or 4 but is also great for freezing.

Step 4: The Dough:

Put flour, teaspoon of sugar and pinch of salt in the food processor (or work manually). Cut the butter into cubes and add it to the flour. Mix, let the machine run for a few seconds at the time, into a crumbly whole or knead with cool hands into a crumbly whole. Now add one or two tablespoons of ice cold water each time and mix or knead. Repeat until there is a nice, smooth dough. I needed 12 tablespoons of water. Shape the dough into a ball and divide into two. Take half of the dough into a ball and press flat on a piece of plastic foil. Close the foil and put it in the fridge for at least an hour. Do the same with the second part of the dough. One portion is good for a pie. The other half can be frozen or used directly for a second pie.

Step 5: Blind Baking:

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured sheet of baking paper. Grease the baking pan with Crisco or some butter and place it on top of the rolled out dough. Now hold a hand on the baking tin. Put the other hand under the baking paper and turn in a circular motion. Now press the dough well into the mold and cut away the excess dough. Another way is to roll up the dough on the rolling pin and unroll it above the baking pan. Let the baking tin with dough cool in the freezer. Turn any remaining dough into a figure to put on the pie. I used a little sand mold to stick out a starfish. Heat the oven to 200 ° Celsius. Remove the dough from the freezer after half an hour and place a sheet of baking paper on the dough and fill the baking paper with a filler. I use beans. Now place the dough in the oven and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, until the edge starts to color lightly. Now remove the dough from the oven and remove the baking paper with filling. Place the dough back in the oven and bake until the dough is lightly golden brown. This takes approximately the same time as baking with filling. Once the dough is golden brown, remove it from the oven and let cool completely.

Step 6: The Yogurt Mixture

Drain the strawberries in a sieve and put the strained strawberries back in the storidge box and put them back in the fridge
Soak two sheets of gelatin in ice cold water.
Put the marinade in a pan and bring to the boil, let it cook for a few minutes. Then remove from the heat. Squeeze the gelatine sheets and dissolve in the mixture and let cool. Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature mix in a cup of strawberry yogurt. Stir until an even mass.

Step 7: Make the Pie:

Take all the ingredients from the fridge. Fill the bottom with a layer of pastry cream, fill about two to three thirds. Place the drained strawberries on the pastry cream and carefully fill the spaces between the strawberries with the yoghurt mixture with a sauce spoon. Put the pie in the fridge for about an hour so that the gelatin can thicken. Remove the pie from the fridge after a minimum of one hour. Cut the pie and decorate with a dash of fresh whipped cream or in an emergency with a spray cream and sprinkle some shaved roasted almonds on top. Unfortunately I had to use the spray whipped cream because there was no fresh cream available, but the taste was no less.

Step 8: Leftover Recipes:

What can you do with leftover pastry cream:
If you have leftover pastry cream and you find it too little to freeze, make a 'pudding broodje', a pudding bun but different, a typical Dutch treat. Cut a roll in two but not completely to the bottom and fill with bakery cream. Dust with powdered sugar and you're done, just that simple. Lets eat.

And what about the egg whites:
Egg whites makes Haagse Bluf* a Dutch dessert.
You need:
6 Egg whites
75 gr caster sugar
2 dl unsweetened berry juice

Put all cold ingredients in a fat-free, preferably stainless steel, bowl and mix until the egg whites spikes, if you turn the bowl up side down the egg white has to stay in the bowl. Serve immediately. You can freeze what is left over of the Haagse Bluf. Stir every half an hour till frozen. Once frozen in the blender along with frozen strawberries or raspberries and you have delicious sorbet ice cream.

*This dessert is less suitable for children, pregnant women and the elderly because it is made from raw egg. With raw eggs there is always a small chance of salmonella. You can make this chance even smaller by washing the eggs in an organic soap solution just before use. Once washed, you should use eggs right away and you can no longer store them in the fridge because the natural protective layer is gone.