Old-Fashioned Egg Custard Pie

Ingredients

Tick each one off as you go.

• 1 ½ cups (175 g) all-purpose flour, plus a pinch of salt (for the pastry)
• ¾ stick (85 g) cold butter, cubed, plus 2–3 tbsp ice-cold water
• 4 large eggs
• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar and ¼ tsp fine salt
• 2 ⅛ cups (500 ml) whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract and a whole nutmeg, for grating

Method

1. Pastry. Rub the butter into the flour and pinch of salt until it looks like breadcrumbs, add just enough ice-cold water to bring it together, then chill 30 minutes. Roll out and line a deep 23 cm pie pan; prick the base and chill again while the oven heats.
2. Blind-bake. Oven to 400°F (200°C, fan 180°C). Line the pastry with paper and baking beans; bake 15 minutes, then remove the beans and bake 5 more, until the base looks dry. Lightly beat one of the filling eggs, brush the inside with a thin coat and give it 2 minutes more to seal — the rest of that egg goes into the custard. Turn the oven down to 325°F (160°C, fan 140°C).
3. Scald. Heat the milk until it steams and tiny bubbles gather at the edge — hot, but never boiling.
4. Whisk. Gently whisk the eggs, granulated sugar and ¼ tsp salt — no froth — then whisk in the hot milk in a slow stream. Add the vanilla and strain through a sieve into a jug.
5. Fill and bake. Set the warm crust on the pulled-out oven shelf, pour in the custard there, and grate nutmeg generously over the top. Bake 35–45 minutes, until the edges are set but the center — a circle the size of your palm — still wobbles like set jelly.
6. Cool. Cool completely on a rack, about 3 hours — it finishes setting as it cools. Slice with a knife dipped in hot water and wiped between cuts.