I got some nice Bing cherries from the local farmer’s market to make a pie. This was prompted by an evil Williams-Sonoma catalogue in which they give you recipes coupled with their gadgets. The cherry pie recipe actually didn’t require anything they sold other than a pitter, but since I didn’t have one I bought theirs because it was cheap. Too cheap; it kept coming apart when I tried to use it. On top of that, the pie didn’t come out so well. I used a Pillsbury crust that you unroll into the pan yourself, because I’d had good luck with it for pumkin pies and the box said you could use it for fruit pies too. They lie. The juices overloaded the crust, making it soggy and firmly stuck to the pan. Even besides that, the filling didn’t taste as good as I hoped.
So, now I need a good pie recipe. Well, I dunno if I’ll attempt it anytime soon, but I’m still curious what a good recipe looks like.
Bing cherries do not a good cherry pie make. You need PIE cherries, called sour cherries, although I like to eat them as is, they’re not THAT sour. A famous variety is called Montmorency, there are many others. Pie cherries are softer than sweet cherries, and pit quite easily. You can ust a paper clip[ if the accursed pitter is giving you trouble.Any general purpose cookbook will give you pie making tips. How much thickener[instant tapioca works great] to use, ingredients[a few DROPS of almond extract greatly improves the flavor of a cherry pie], etc. A well made cherry pie is scrumptious, don’t forget to serve it warm with vanilla ice cream.
It depends on what you like. In my opinion, Pillsbury crusts aren’t very flakey. (If I’m pressed for time I use Petz Ritz pie crusts.) But there is nothing wrong with a Pillsbury crust.
The OP’s crust might have turned out so soggy because the Bing cherries released more liquid as they cooked than sour cherries.
So basically my recipe was complete crap. It called for 2 lbs Bing cherries, 1 c sugar, and 2 tbsp each of arrowroot and cornstarch. It just said to mix everything together and put it straight in the crust; I imagine if it said to cook it first it might at least have reduced a little. The partial pie in my fridge is still pretty runny.
Well at least those bastards don’t have any of my money. I returned the piece of junk pitter.
I find that tapioca works MUCH better than cornstarch or arrowroot. I usually use a bit more than indicated on the tapioca box for fruit pies as I hate runny pie. That pie recipe looks ok, though I’d replace the thickener as I said. Also when I cook with fresh fruit it reduces and sinks down, so the top crust tends to be a tent. I would try cooking the filling first next time.