INGREDIENTS FOR A 23cm (9 inch) PIE:
For the crust:
190g all-purpose/plain flour
40g icing sugar
100g dairy-free butter
30g soy milk
3g white vinegar
For the filling:
190g caster sugar (or other granulated sugar)
5g agar agar powder
20g cornstarch
190g dairy-free cream
320g almond milk
15g lemon zest, chopped
yellow food colouring
150g lemon juice
For the meringue topping:
110g aquafaba, cold (reduced from 160g)
2 tsp lemon juice, strained (10g)
130g caster sugar
STEPS
For the crust, blend the flour, the sugar and the butter to obtain a sort of breadcrumbs, combine the mixture with the vinegar and the soy milk, and knead briefly to obtain a dough.
Wrap the dough in cling film, place it in the fridge and chill it for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
Once the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 150°C (no fan).
Roll down the dough into a 30cm (12 inches) disk of roughly 5mm (¼ inch) thickness, and use the disk to line a 23cm (9 inch) non-stick pie tin.
Scrunch a piece of greaseproof paper under water and squeeze it to remove any excess moisture.
Line the pie tin with the wet paper, add plenty of rock salt to it and use it as a weight for the blind baking process. This will prevent the dough from rising and moving.
Bake the base in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, rotating it every 15 minutes to allow for even browning. Let it cool down completely, and remove salt.
For the filling, mix a third of the sugar with the agar agar, and set aside.
Mix the remaining sugar with the starch and the cream, and set aside.
Place the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat, pour in sugar/agar mix and whisk to properly combine the ingredients.
Add the zest, bring to a boil, and simmer gently for 3 min to hydrate the agar.
Add food colouring to taste and stir again; we added the colouring in 6 times using the tip of a toothpick.
Now, lower the heat to the minimum and pour in the cream/starch mixture. Bring the filling back to a boil stirring constantly, and as soon as it starts boiling again, turn off heat. Add in lemon juice and stir once more to complete the filling.
Pour the filling in the precooked shell through a fine sieve to remove the zest, and let the pie set at room temperature for 30 minutes before placing it in the fridge for 3 hours to fully set.
Whip the aquafaba and the lemon juice using a stand mixer at full power for 8 minutes, and then, gradually incorporate the sugar 1 tbsp at the time, making sure to wait 40 seconds between each addition.
Once the sugar is finished, whip for another 4 minutes at full power before placing the meringue topping in a pastry bag and piping it onto the pie or onto the slices before serving.
Torch the topping if desired, making sure to be careful and gentle because aquafaba does not coagulate, so it won’t react as egg whites would. A gentle torching and a little colour goes a long way to add a nice colour, and subtle caramel flavour to the pie.
5 окт 2024
