Ingredients
Pastry 
350g plain flour 
4 tbsp sugar  
225g butter, cut into cubes 
½ tsp salt 
1 egg, yolk and white separated 
4 tbsp cold water 
1 tbsp Demerara sugar for the top 

Filling 
800g pitted cherries, fresh or frozen 
175g sugar 
3 tbsp cornflour 
2 tsp lemon juice 
1 tsp vanilla extract 

Equipment needed 
23cm pie tin (need to be a deep pie tin) 

Pastry might have a bad reputation but it really is not too bad if you follow the recipe step by step. If however you really don't want to make pastry though, just buy 2 sheets of ready rolled shortcut pastry.

Method
Put the flour and salt in a bowl and with your fingers just stir around to mix the flour and salt.  Put the butter cubes in and rub the flour and butter together until it becomes like breadcrumbs.  Add the 4 tbsp of sugar and stir through.  Mix 3 tbsps of water with the egg yolk and start to bring together to form a dough.  If the dough does not start to come together properly then you will need to add a little more water, different flours need different amounts of water and so just add extra water ½ a tbsp at a time and add just enough for the dough to come together to form into a ball.  You can process this in a food processor if you prefer.  Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. 

Take the dough out of the fridge and lightly flour a worksurface and  leave for a couple of minutes to just soften.  Divide the dough into two, two thirds/one third. And with your hands, flatten each one to about 2cm, wrap in greaseproof paper or clingfilm and put back into the fridge for 20 minutes. 

After 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 200c.  Make the filling by putting all the ingredients into a non-metallic bowl and leaving for 10 mins, stirring a couple of times. 

Take the larger piece of pastry from the fridge and leave for a few minutes.  You now need to roll out to at least 30cm.  I find the easiest way to do this is to get two sheets of greaseproof paper and put either side of the pastry and roll between the two.   

Take the smaller piece of pastry from the fridge and leave for a few minutes.  Roll out to about 23cm again using two sheets of greaseproof paper.  Put this back into the fridge. 

If you are using shop bought pastry you can start from this point on.

You can then pick up the dough, turn over and carefully put it into the pie tin carefully, gently pushing the pastry into the flutes.  Trim the excess pastry by running a knife around the edge of the top of the pan.  As pastry shrinks a little when it is cooked you now need the pastry to slightly rise above the edge, the neatest way to do this is to gently push around the edge of the top of the pastry all the way around.  Brush the egg white on the inside of the top of the pastry. 

Put the cherries into the pastry base and carefully move them around so they are evenly spread.  Get the pastry lid from the fridge and put on the top of the cherries.  Carefully push and crimp the two edges together so that the filling does not spill out (the egg white will help to glue the pastry together).  Brush the top of the pastry with the egg white and scatter the demerara sugar over the top.  Make a few slits in the top of the pastry and put into the oven for 15 minutes.   

After 15 mins reduce to 180c and cook for a further 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.  It will be extremely hot when you get it out but it will smell so good you will want to dive in it but try to leave it at least 15-20 minutes.