Fresh Pear Pie Recipe: How to Make Pear Pie
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Oct 26, 2022 • 2 min read
For a fun fall twist on the classic apple pie, fill a flaky pastry crust with peak-season pears and warm spices.
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What Is Pear Pie?
A pear pie is a dessert with a filling of pears and warm spices inside a pie crust. Bakers coat pear slices in cinnamon sugar and lemon juice, then pour them into a pie crust. You can make a lattice top crust or sprinkle on a streusel crumb topping. Whipped cream and vanilla ice cream are popular add-ons for pear pie.
What Are the Best Pears for Pie?
For a delicious pear pie, use ripe pears that are still firm. Try one of these pear varieties for the best pear filling:
- Anjou: You can find this mild, common variety listed as both “red Anjou” or “green Anjou,” but there’s no marked difference in taste between them. Red Anjou pears have a burnished rusty color and tend to be slightly more elongated than the green variety.
- Bartlett: Also known as “Williams Pears,” super soft Bartlett pears are high on the juicy side of the scale. They’re found as both “red Bartlett” and “green Bartlett.”
- Bosc: Bosc pears have a matte, almost mottled look to their skin, with rougher patches of light brown overlaying the green skin beneath. They’re highly aromatic and hold their shape well when sliced into dishes like a radicchio salad or baked into a pear tart or pie.
Simple Pear Pie Recipe
makes
1 9-inch pieprep time
30 mintotal time
1 hr 30 mincook time
1 hrIngredients
Note: The total time does not include 2 hours of inactive time.
- 1
Peel the pears, discard the cores, and cut into slices about 1-inch thick. Place the sliced pears in a medium bowl and add cinnamon, brown sugar, cornstarch, ½ teaspoon salt, and lemon juice. Toss to combine.
- 2
Combine the flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Add the cold butter, and work it between your fingers until there are no large pieces left (dough should just hold together when pressed in a handful).
- 3
Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface, and add the ice water and vinegar. Comb through the dough with your fingers until well-combined, then begin to knead the dough. Only do this a few minutes; dough will not look smooth or stretchy.
- 4
Divide the dough and form into two shaggy discs, about 1-inch thick. Wrap pie dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- 5
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator and roll out to fit a 9-inch pie plate or pie pan. Fit the dough into the bottom of the dish, and blind bake until beginning to brown. Allow to cool.
- 6
Roll out the second disc of dough. After the blind-baked bottom crust has cooled, add the pear filling, and top with the second crust. Crimp edges together with your fingers or the tines of a fork, and seal with egg wash. Cut slits in the top crust to allow steam from the filling to escape, and brush lightly with egg wash. Top with a sprinkle of Demerara sugar if desired.
- 7
Return to the preheated oven and bake pie for 40 minutes, or until the crust is a deep, burnished golden brown, rotating once halfway through. (If edges begin to burn before the rest of the pie is ready, simply cover with bits of aluminum foil.)
- 8
Remove from the oven, and let cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before cutting. Serve with whipped cream if desired.
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