Autumn Pie
Even though I am a summer person at heart — I love holidays at the sea, long summer days and warm nights — I also truly appreciate the autumn and the seemingly harsh change that comes with it, the darkness, the cold and the melancholy. For me, the most beautiful part of the fall is getting extra home time with my family. The night we make a fire in our fireplace for the first time after the warm season is a special feast day for me.
I grew up in the Central Europe and this time of year brings vivid memories. In the fall, we used to make a jam from ripe plums. The key to making the plum jam we call povidla was to cook the plums on the stove for a very long time until they become one smooth substance. The tricky part was not to burn it. In Austria you can buy povidl (the Germanised Czech word) in the supermarkets. Many recipes use plum jam. The one I want to share is perfect for the season: povidla mixed with spices such as cinnamon, cloves, star anise and ginger that warm and comfort body and soul during cold days and nights.
Ingredients
For the dough you need:
- 360g flour
- 150g butter
- pinch of salt
- 10 – 15 tbl spoons of water
For the filling:
- 400g plum jam
- 4 or 5 middle sized apples
- 1 bio lemon
- couple of cloves
- cinnamon {one stick of one teaspoon of grounded one}
- to your liking: star anise, cardamon, ginger, cloves, vanilla {optional}
- dried fruit as raisons, dates, apricots {optional}
For crust wash:
- 1 egg
- brown sugar
For servings:
- sour cream or creme fraiche
Method
For the dough mix all the ingredients together in the kitchen aid or by hand, cover it in the foil and let it rest in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.
In the meantime prepare the filling. Peel the apples and cut them in cubes. In a pot warm up the povidla with the apple cubes, add lemon skin and lemon juice, spices, vanilla, dried fruit. Cook mildly until the tastes unite and apples soften up.
Heat up the oven for 200 °C. Prepare the baking form with butter and flour.
Divide the dough in two halves. Roll one half out into a thin circle and place it into the form.
Roll out the other half the same way and cut the dough in about 1 cm wide stripes.
Spread the filling onto the dough in the form and then place the stripes on it, forming a grid.
On the grid, apply an egg wash and sprinkle it with brown sugar to make it crustier.
Put it in the oven and bake it until golden.
Tips:
- You can use a whole grain flour to make the pie healthier. I use my beloved spelt flour.
- You can mix povidla with any other jam left overs you find in the fridge. You can even leave out the povidla completely and use different kind of jam.
- Instead of apples you can use pears.
