Classic Pumpkin Pie

Sometimes it's hard to improve on classics, but we like to think every baked good near and dear to our hearts could use a flavour boost from freshly milled flour. We collaborated with our good friend Tina to bring you this flakey and flavourful crust using our Flourist Sifted Red Spring Wheat Flour exclusively. The flavour is unlike anything we've you've ever had, and we're excited to share Tina's recipe with you. Stock up on our Organic Sifted Red Spring Flour so you too can enjoy this beautiful Classic Pumpkin Pie. 

Classic Pumpkin Pie
Makes one 9-inch pie (8-12 slices)
From Tina: "One of the keys to flaky pastry is keeping all the ingredients, including your tools, as cold as possible. Allow them to chill in the refrigerator before you start your work. This pie, inspired from Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, has a hint of sweetness and highlights a deep caramelized pumpkin flavour with plenty of warm autumnal spices."

Crust (yields enough dough for two single crust pies)
2 2⁄3 (368g) cup Flourist Sifted Red Spring Wheat Flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup and 2 tbsp (255g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄2 inch cubes
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1⁄2 cup ice cold water, or as needed

Filling
2 cups (450g) canned or fresh cooked pumpkin puree
1⁄2 cup (76g) brown sugar
1⁄2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1⁄4 tsp ground nutmeg
A few generous grinds of fresh black pepper
2 eggs
1 cup cream
1⁄2 cup milk
Whipped cream (optional)

Make the dough
Combine the flour and salt in a large metal mixing bowl and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Mix apple cider vinegar and water and keep chilled.

Add cubed butter to the flour and toss lightly with your hands to coat. Using your fingers, press butter into flat sheets, tossing with flour as you work to make sure each piece of butter is well coated. You want to aim for butter pieces that range from the size of a dime to a quarter.

A tablespoon at a time, drizzle the vinegar-water mixture along the side of the bowl, allowing it to trickle towards the flour mixture. Use your hand or a fork to flick the flour mixture towards the centre of the bowl, rotating the bowl as you go. Repeat with 4 tbsp of vinegar-water. The flour mixture should start forming larger clusters.

After adding 5 tbsp of vinegar-water, take a handful of the flour mixture in your hands and squeeze gently. If it easily holds together without falling apart, enough water has been added. If it easily breaks apart, continue adding 1 tbsp of vinegar-water at a time, checking the consistency after each addition until the dough holds together. Add liquid sparingly.

Press dough together and then split in half. Form each half into a disk and wrap individually with plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.

Pumpkin filling
Place pumpkin puree in a saucepan and heat gently over medium heat, stirring frequently. You want some of the liquid to evaporate, resulting in a somewhat drier puree. Remove from heat. Add sugar, salt, and spices, whisking thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs well, add cream and milk. Add this mixture to the pumpkin mixture. 

Assemble and bake
Preheat oven to 375F. Remove one dough disk from the fridge. Lightly flour your rolling pin and if needed, the rolling surface and roll the pie crust out to a 12-inch circle, approximately 1⁄8-1/4" thick. Lightly flour your rolling pin as needed to prevent sticking. Gently place the pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan, trim any rough edges (see note), fold the edges under and crimp in a decorative pattern.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into pie shell and bake for 30-40 minutes until pastry is golden brown and the center wiggles just ever so slightly when gently shaken. Remove from oven and let cool completely before slicing. Serve with whipped cream (optional). 

Note from Tina "I like to roll out any pie dough scraps into decorative shapes, such as leaves, and bake on a sheet pan until golden brown. You can top the pumpkin pie with the decorative shapes, or just eat them as is!"