Philo-crusted Pear-Apple Pie

Credit for the idea of this recipe goes to my dear friend Virgil, who posted the germ of the recipe as a comment at the beginning of October (the post on narratives and upcoming projects). His, and his lovely wife's, recipe calls for a free-form peach and black grape pie, which sounds fabulous. Unfortunately, fresh peaches and grapes are gone until next August in the Great Chilly North.

Of course, I don't keep phyllo dough on hand, but I do make a lot of bread (the kind with flour, not flax fibers). The recipe didn't look too tough, and I was trying to think of some way to celebrate an apparent outbreak of sanity in the part of the world from which phyllo hails (you go girls!). We also had a couple pears and apples that needed to be cooked badly.

Ingredients:

Phyllo dough: 2C sifted flour, 1 egg, 1/2 cup water, 5 1/2T butter, 1t salt, some honey

Filling: 3 crisp apples sliced thin; 2 pears sliced thin; 3T brown sugar; 1T lemon juice; 1T granulated sugar; 2T cornstarch

Assembly:

(1) Sift the flour into a bowl, make a small well in the center. Add the egg, water, 1/2T melted butter, and salt and mix thoroughly, then knead until smooth and elastic. Cover with a small amount of flour and a damp towel for 15min. Preheat the oven to 350F.

(2) Combine the sliced apples and pears in a bowl, add brown sugar and lemon juice, stir. Allow to sit for 10min while mixing the granulated sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.

(3) Melt 3T of butter in another small bowl. Roll out the Phyllo until it's about 1/2" thick and spread the butter over it (this will make a small mess). Cut the dough into three sections, stack them and re-roll. Knead in any butter that has escaped. Form into a ball, then separate into two roughly equal balls. Roll out one ball until it's roughly a 14" circle. Get this into a 9" pie plate and leave the overhang, you'll need it shortly.

(4) Mix the cornstarch/sugar mix into the fruit and stir thoroughly. Scoop the larger sections of pear and apple into the pie plate. Roll out the other ball into a ~14" circle, place this on top of the larger chunks of fruit. Pour the remaining fruit and juices onto this layer, then fold all of the overhanging sections in to cover the pie as best as possible.

(5) Melt the remaining butter and some honey in a small bowl and brush the top of the pie with the delicious mixture. Place in the oven for 30min, rotate 180deg and continue baking until the top is golden brown, about 30min.

(6) Remove and let cool for a couple hours.