A pandowdy is a pie of sorts, the difference being that the crust is “dowdied”, or broken into big pieces with a fork partway through cooking. The edges of the pastry pieces soak up some of the juices while the centre remains crisp. We’ve used Granny Smith apples for their tartness, pink ladies for their sweetness, and frozen blackberries for a reminder of summer in the depths of winter. As you serve the pandowdy, you can pour some cream straight into the baking dish so it mingles with the juices to delicious effect.
Ingredients
Sour cream pastry
Method
Main
1.For sour cream pastry, process flour, sugar, vanilla seeds, rind and ½ tsp salt in a food processor to combine, add butter, pulse until small lumps of butter remain (30 seconds). Add sour cream, pulse to combine, turn onto a work surface, bring together with the heel of your hand, wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate to rest (2 hours).
2.Preheat oven to 200C. Combine apples, sugar, blackberries, flour, juice and rind in a bowl, then transfer to a 24cm-diameter 5cm-deep pie dish.
3.Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to 4mm thick. Brush edges of pie dish with water, place pastry over filling and press over rim of pie dish to seal, then trim edges with a sharp knife. Pierce a hole in centre of pastry, brush pastry with water, scatter with demerara sugar then bake until pastry is light golden and crisp (30-35 minutes). Remove from oven, break pastry into large pieces with a fork, press down into filling, then bake until filling bubbles up over pastry and pastry is golden brown (20-25 minutes). Stand for 15 minutes then serve with cream.
