I picked perhaps a quarter of the total berries from the self-pollinating montmorency. They were smaller this year.
I gave away another bowlful.
The tedious part: 540 cherries later I was finally done. Sheesh. That stretched into four shallow pies but the deep-dish uses 200-250 per. Still missed a few pits. You need a good system for this. The mason jar slap-style pitter wasn't very precise and the hole was too large. The handheld pinch style works better IMO.
To make crust you need a pastry cutter to work the fat/flour in the bowl. I used lard/butter instead of crisco for the top crust but it wasn't cold enough to stay suspended in little bb's. Wrong recipe and I pressed too thin. Even frozen it was difficult to work with and fell apart easily. The two made cut into strips only covered three of the pies. Over the next day I ate the 'mistake'. Yum.
I used less than half the sugar (1 cup sugar per 8 cup berries) with a dash of lemon juice to tart it up even more. A little cinnamon and real vanilla. I used corn starch but tapioca works as well. Frozen butter under. Egg white/water brush the crust and a healthy dose of cinnamon sugar. That is where I like sweetness. 450deg for 10-15min to crisp the crust and then 375deg 30-45min until bubbling. These were probably slightly undercooked but the top puffed up nicely.
