Shaker Orange Pie

Pie Crust

Directions

1. Combine the flour, salt and sugar. Add the butter.
2. Use a pastry cutter or mixer with beater attachment on low to work the butter into the flour, keeping some of the butter in pea-sized pieces.
3. Mix together the water and vodka and slowly add to the flour/butter mixture. Gently stir by hand or a wooden spoon while keeping the pea-sized chunks of butter intact.
4. When most of the flour is coming together, gently knead the dough into a ball. The dough should hold together when you pinch it, but you shouldn't have any on your fingers. If it is too dry, add a bit more water and re-mix. If it is too wet, add a bit more flour and re-mix.
5. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
6. When ready to prepare the pie, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
7. Roll out on a well floured surface. If the dough seems hard, let it sit at room temperature for about 10 - 15 minutes. This will prevent the edges from cracking too much. You still want the dough to be chilled, so the butter doesn’t get too soft.
8. As you are rolling, you can round out the edges with your hands. This will help keep the circular shape and reduce cracking.
9. Once you have it rolled out to about 1/8-inch thick round, measure the dough to make sure it will fit the 12-inch pie plate. You can place the pie plate upside down over the dough and cut about two inches from the outside edge of the plate.
10. Lift the dough over the plate and gently fit the crust into the plate. Crimp a design into the edge. If there is too much dough around the edges, trim a bit off and crimp. Prick bottom and sides of pie crust with a fork.
11. Line pie crust with parchment paper, and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
12. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Remove weights and paper, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
13. Remove from the oven and let sit until filling is ready (instructions below).
14. Once filling is ready, combine whole eggs with reserved citrus syrup and corn starch in a bowl and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until slightly fluffy.
15. Stir orange segments into egg mixture. Pour into the pie shell and arrange orange pieces evenly. Top with the 5 reserved orange slices.
16. Using a pastry brush, gently brush dough edges with egg wash mixture. Cover loosely with foil.
17. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove foil, and bake 30 more minutes or until set. Let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing (about 2 hours).

Pie Filling

Directions

1. Grate 2 tablespoons of Navel orange zest. Thinly slice oranges crosswise. Set 5 slices to the side. Segment the remaining orange slices into sixths.
2. Bring sugar, orange segments, orange slices, zest, and water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 1 hour or until oranges slices are translucent.
4. Separate whole slices from segmented pieces, and set aside.
5. Drain remaining fruit, reserving syrup. Remove from heat.