The very freshest cherry pie

This is for someone very special, who is as sweet as the freshest cherry at its prime. Recipe is adapted from the KAF cookbook. I modified the recipe to use atta flour, which has plenty of bran. I also adjust the sugar in the pie filling, so that the flavor of the fresh cherries may stand out.

Recipe: Fresh cherry pie (make 1 6-in pie)

Ingredients:
Pie dough (make 2 portions)
- 1+1/2 cup atta flour
- 1 TB buttermilk powder
- 1/4 tp salt
- 1/4 tp baking powder
- 3 TB butter
- 3 TB vegetable shortening
- 1 tp cider vinegar
- 5-7 TB ice water
Filling
- 2 to 2+1/2 cups fresh, firm cherries
- 2 TB cornstarch
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup water
- juice of a quarter of a lemon
- 1 TB butter
- 1 TB white sugar

Procedure:

Pie crust
1. Chill vegetable shortening. In a separate bowl, mix about 1/3 cup water with vinegar, and add in 1/4 cup of ice.
2. Mix flour, buttermilk powder, salt and baking powder thoroughly in a medium bowl.
3. Chop butter into small cubes. Add chopped butter into the flour mixture. Rub the butter in. Then break chilled shortening into bite-size pieces. Add shortening into the mixture and rub in.
4. After adding both butter and shortening, gently press the mixture together.
5. Add about 1 TB of iced water at a time, up to 6-7 TB in total. After each addition, mix the flour and push it together. Do so gently to minimize kneading. Each time, after working on the dough, test its cohesiveness by tearing out a lump. If it holds together when pressed in the hand, the dough is ready.
6. Form two dough balls and place in freezer for 20 minutes or fridge for at least 30 minutes.
7. Take dough out. Dust a counter with a little flour. Sprinkle flour on dough's top. Roll out the dough into a thin sheet.
8. Use the rolling pin to help place dough sheet onto a 6"-pan.
9. Press the sheet onto the pan. Then trim the side and fold nicely.
10. Dock the crust dough by punching holes all over it with a fork.
11. Chill dough in freezer for about 30 minutes or until used.
12. Preheat oven to 375F. Take dough out of freezer. Add a weight on the pan. Place in oven to bake for 10 minutes.
13. Take the weight out. Return half-baked crust to oven. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until golden in color. Take pie crust out and allow to cool on a rack. Crust may have shrunk from the pan. It's ok.

Pie filling
1. Wash fresh cherries. Halve them. Then remove the stone.
2. Coarsely chop some of the cherries to fill about 3/4 cup.
3. Mix water, sugar and cornstarch until dissolved. Add the chopped cherries. Cook on medium heat until the mixture thickens into a thick translucent paste. Stir very frequently while heating.
4. Once the mixture has thickened, add lemon juice. The mixture will freshen and brighten after the lemon juice is added. Stir to mix well.
5. Then add butter and most of the remaining cherries. Stir well to mix the ingredients so that the flavor is uniform.
6. Pour the filling onto the pie crust. Then cover the top with the remaining cherries.
7. Place in a covered container to chill. To prevent crust from becoming soggy, remove cover to wipe dry after the first hour. Then replace container.

Results:

1:48pm, ice water with vinegar:

1:50pm, butter chopped and added to the flour mixture:

1:52pm, butter being rubbed into the flour:

1:54pm, shortening being added in bite sized pieces:

1:56pm, ingredients being mixed:

1:57pm, 1 TB of water added:

1:58pm, the process of working on the dough:

2:06pm, dough falling apart when tested:

2:12pm, dough with additional water and re-worked through the whole process until it just holds together:

2:13pm, dough to chill:

2:23pm, dough chilled 10 minutes, one piece ready to freeze, the other ready to roll out:

2:23pm, dough dusted with flour:

2:23pm, dough to be rolled out:

2:29pm, dough sheet transferred to pan:

2:33pm, dough's edge trimmed:

2:37pm, crust dough docked by a fork:

2:37pm, leftover dough made into a mini pie crust:

3:20pm, both crust dough chilled for 50 minutes:

3:27pm, crust dough allowed to warm for 7 minutes while preparing to blind bake:

3:27pm, large pie crust dough started baking:

3:38pm, crust baked 11 minutes:

3:38pm, crust to continue baking without weight, together with mini pie crust:

3:52pm, crust baked another 13 minutes, ready:

3:53pm, crust bottom:

3:52pm, crust edge:

3:53pm, crust's interior:

3:53pm, mini pie crust ready:

Pie filling
4:01pm, fresh cherries halved, stones removed, and some chopped:

4:06pm, all ingredients for making the filling:

4:09pm, sugar and cornstarch mixed with water, then with chopped cherries, ready to cook on medium heat:

4:15pm, filling thickened into a translucent paste:

4:15pm, lemon juice added and color of filling freshened up:

4:17pm, butter and most of the remaining cherries added:

4:20pm, filling placed in crusts:

4:24pm, extra cherries added:

4:29pm, pie ready to chill:

5:30pm, pie after chilling for 1 hour, crust remain crispy:

Observations:
1. The atta flour actually does pretty well for pie crust. It gives a rather sturdy crust.
2. In this recipe, I have reduced the total amount of fat by 2 TB and increased the water by 2 TB. The crust still looks good and holds together well.
3. The filling tastes very good though I use only 1 TB of sugar. I think this is the way to go!