*** damn fine cherry pie

the trees are full of cherries
or cerises as we call them here
there's fetes and jam making 

and everything cherry going down

luckily my man loves a cherry pie

and introduced me to vlaai
a dutch pie

so rising to the challenge 

I baked ....

kersenvlaai

for the dough .....

300g flour (type 55 in France)

6g instant yeast or 18g fresh

120g lukemwarm milk

20g sugar

generous pinch of salt 

30g softened butter

1 egg

coarse sugar for sprinkling

for the filling ....

500g fresh cherries, stones removed

70 g sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

a tablespoon of cornflour 

dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk

if you use instant yeast, add that directly to the flour

add the salt and sugar to the flour

pour in the milk + egg and bring it together

when it starts forming a ball 

add the soft butter

knead for 5 minutes with a mixer 

or for 8 to 10 by hand

place the dough in a greased bowl, cover
let it rest for 1 hour in a warm place

meanwhile .....
pile the cherries and sugar into a large saucepan

slowly bring to a rolling boil
then simmer the cherries until slightly softened

mix the cornflour with a little water

then add to the cherries

and stir stir stir until it thickens

add the vanilla extract 

then leave to cool

back to the dough ....

preheat the oven to 200/ gas 6

grease a large pie dish

(28cm and deep as you can get)

roll out the dough to around 3mm thick

leave the edges hanging

and prick the base with a fork

now leave it for another 10 minutes to rest

then trim off the excess dough

and pile in the cherry filling

trim the left over dough into strips

brush the edges of the pie with a little beaten egg

and weave the lattice top

sprinkle with coarse sugar 

and bake for 25 -30 minutes

leave to cool in the tin

then slice and share

heerlijk!