Banana Cream Pie

Banana cream pie, with its silky, luscious texture and classic flavour profile, is proof that for The Oakwood owner/baker extraordinaire Wendy May, following a recipe precisely is optional, but having patience is essential.

Chefs John Lindenbach and Wendy May
The Oakwood

Ingredients
Pastry crust
255 g flour
83 g cold butter, cubed
45 g lard or vegetable shortening
Pinch of sugar
Ice cold water

Pie filling
1/2 cup 35% cream
1 cup sugar, divided
3 1/2 gelatin sheets
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 ripe bananas, sliced

Chantilly cream
3 cups 35% cream
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp sugar

Method
Pastry crust

1. Place flour, butter, sugar and lard in a food processor. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With machine running, add ice water, a little at a time, until mixture comes together in a ball.
2. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Rest and chill in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.
3. Once chilled, roll dough on a lightly floured surface between sheets of parchment paper to 1/4″ thickness. Place into a 10″ pie tin, gently pressing into bottom and sides of tin. Trim excess dough around edge. Let chill 20 minutes in refrigerator.
4. Blind bake the crust until light golden and cooked through; let cool while filling is being made.

Chantilly cream

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add cream, sugar and vanilla, mixing on medium high until cream holds stiff peaks. Set aside until ready to use.

Pie filling

1. In a medium, heavy-bottomed pot, heat cream and 1/2 cup sugar together to a full simmer.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining sugar, cornstarch and eggs. Whisk well to combine.
3. Mash 2 bananas and set aside.
4. Slice 2 bananas and set aside.
5. Temper egg mixture with hot cream, taking care to stir constantly as you add the cream.
6. Carefully pour mixture back into the pot, stirring constantly.
7. Over medium heat, cook until mixture comes to a hard simmer, taking care not to bring to a full boil. Remove from heat.
8. Bloom gelatin sheets by fully submerging in cold water. Leave up to five minutes, then remove from water, gently squeezing out the excess.
9. Add gelatin to the hot mixture, stirring to fully dissolve, then add the mashed banana mixture and stir to combine.

Assembly

1. On the bottom of the baked pie shell, cover with a single layer of sliced banana, then add custard mixture on top.
2. Place remaining banana slices on top of custard in a single layer.
3. Cover with plastic wrap pressed gently onto the surface and refrigerate until set.
4. Using an offset spatula, spread a thin, even layer of whipped cream over the surface of the pie right to the edge of the crust.
5. Mound remaining whipped cream onto the pie and swirl into an abstract pattern.
6. Keep in fridge until ready to use. Will keep 3-4 days if covered so that the cream doesn’t dry out.

Yield 1 banana cream pie