{"id":6446,"date":"2016-10-18T15:03:04","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T19:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bakeschool.com\/?p=6446"},"modified":"2023-11-21T11:42:32","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T16:42:32","slug":"wine-poached-pear-pie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bakeschool.com\/wine-poached-pear-pie\/","title":{"rendered":"Wine-poached pear pie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This gorgeous pear pie is made with poached pears to make the best pear pie with a flavourful filling because the pears are poached in wine first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I love poached pears<\/a>. They make an exciting addition to a big lunch salad with blue cheese and toasted nuts, if you ask me. Poached in wine, poached pears are downright fancy. And they are the inspiration for this pear pie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If making pie crust from scratch scares you, be sure to check out my pie crust masterclass<\/a>, which includes video tutorials for making pie crust in the stand mixer, food processor, and by hand!<\/p>\n\n\n

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Which pears are best for poaching?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For poaching, you want to choose a firm pear of a variety that holds its shape well during cooking and baking. You can use Bosc pears or Bartlett for poaching. Flemish Beauty pears are also great for poaching. These pears keep their shape when heated, which makes them perfect for poaching in light syrup or wine syrup.<\/p>\n\n\n

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How do you make poached pears?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To make poached pears, you first prepare a thin syrup of sugar and water. You can add wine and spices to make the poaching liquid more flavourful. Vanilla bean is also nice for this type of recipe. Then all you have to do is peel and core a few pears, immerse them in the poaching syrup, and let them simmer for about 20 minutes or until they are fork tender, but not falling apart. You can strain the pears when they are cooked through and then boil down the poaching liquid to make a syrup to serve with the poached pears. It's the same principle for poached quince<\/a>, but quince fruit take longer to cook through.<\/p>\n\n\n

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How to get the pear filling to set right<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When testing this recipe, I used too much tapioca starch in the first version of this wine-poached pear pie: half a cup to be exact. The filling turned into a gelatinized disappointment as it cooled, although it tasted amazing. There was way too much tapioca starch for the weight of pears. I did more tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a step back from the recipe, I realized that I had to make this pie with one tablespoon of tapioca starch to thicken the pie juices and not the half cup my insomnia brain initially thought was necessary. Half a cup of tapioca starch is wrong for a pear pie and is what you would need to thicken 2 pounds of rhubarb, like for this rhubarb lattice pie<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n

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This pie crust recipe is adapted from the flaky pie crust on Serious Eats<\/a>. It's got a lot of butter and a fair bit of water. The water works with the flour to give the pie dough some strength. It rolls out really nicely and as Stella Parks mentions, it doesn't crack when you roll it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your favourite pie crust is giving you trouble, next time, add more water when you make it! And make sure to invest in a few tools for pie-making<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n