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July 27, 2010

Blueberry Pie

mmmm blueberry pie!

I made this pie for my dad because:

1. It was his 64th birthday.

2. He loves blueberry pie.

3. I love him!

4. I wanted to impress my family with homemade pie crust. (And did!)

Oh! This pie!! There were times I felt like giving up because the dough was being a bit obnoxious when I was rolling it out. Parts of it crumbled and I felt like all I was doing was piecing it together. I mostly blame the temperature outside mixed with my lack of patience. It also didn’t help that I drank a bunch of wine the night before with my family and didn’t sleep well. With a glass of red wine and a long deep sigh, I finished what I started. There’s nothing that says I love you more than a homemade blueberry pie. Right? We devoured this fantastic lemon scented blueberry pie. My dad was proud, and we had such a wonderful evening!

Happy Birthday Dad! And thank you to Martha Stewart. This recipe worked out fabulously!

Ok. Deep breath! Let’s make the crust. Pulse flour & salt together in a food processor.

flour & salt

Add the chunks of butter and pulse a few times til your dough comes together.

BUTTER!!!

Dump it out, and form two discs. Wrap them up and chill them in the fridge for at least a 1/2 hour.

pulse pulse pulse. CRUST

Take the dough out of the fridge, and on a floured work surface roll them out into 12 inch rounds.

pie rolling

Place the bottom crust carefully in the pie pan. Look at that pretty view! And my wine! NOM!

the best view

Just looking at this frustrates me. This is the top of the pie. This & the pie shell go into the fridge for a bit.

the top

Grate some lemon zest into a bowl of blueberries.

rind

Add the cornstarch, sugar & lemon juice. Stir!!

blueberries, cornstarch, sugar & lemon

Take a couple handfuls of blueberries and squeeze them in your hands! Now mix!

SQUEEZE IT!

Put the blueberries in the pie shell. Stud with butter. Top the pie with the other pie crust.

butter studding

Get your egg yolk & cream together.

egg & cream wash

Crimp the edges of the pie and then brush the egg/cream mixture on top. Refrigerate for a bit.

pie brushing

Now your pie is ready to bake!

hello, pie

Mine leaked a little…but that’s all part of the seduction.

juicy

Serve it up! I topped each slice with some vanilla bean ice cream in my mom’s fancy bowls!

plating

It’s soo ooey & gooey.

gooey

There’s definitely no shortage of blueberries in this pie!

Blueberry Pie

(recipe adapted from Martha Stewart)

Makes one 9-inch pie

  • All-purpose flour, for dusting
  • Pate Brisee
  • 8 cups (about 4 pints) blueberries, picked over
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 tablespoon heavy cream
  1. On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll out one disk of dough to a 12-inch round. With a dry pastry brush, sweep off excess flour; fit dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate, pressing it into edges. Trim dough to a 1/2-inch overhang all around. Fold edge of dough over or under, and crimp as desired. Roll out remaining dough in the same manner; transfer dough (on parchment) to a baking sheet. Chill pie shell and dough until firm, about 30 minutes.
  2. Place blueberries in a large bowl; with your hands, crush about 1/2 cup of berries, letting them fall into the bowl as you work. Add sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice; stir to combine. Spoon mixture into chilled pie shell, mounding berries slightly in the center. Dot with butter. Remove dough from refrigerator, and place over blueberry filling. Tuck edge of top dough between edge of bottom dough and rim of pan. Using your fingers, gently press both layers of dough along the edge to seal, and crimp as desired.
  3. Using a paring knife, cut several vents in top of dough to allow steam to escape. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and cream. Brush surface with egg wash, being careful not to let it pool. Freeze or refrigerate pie until firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in lower third.
  4. Place pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until crust begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking, rotating sheet halfway through, until crust is deep golden brown and juices are bubbling and have thickened, 40 to 50 minutes more. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool completely. The pie is best eaten the day it is baked, but it can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.

For the Pate Brisee:
(recipe from Martha Stewart)
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small
  • 1/4 cup ice water, plus more if needed
  1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. (To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry blender.)
  2. With machine running, add ice water through feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of dough together; if it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
  3. Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened disks. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
  • Sarka

    I bet you must have impressed your family with this pie because it looks divine! I could do with a piece of your pies right now! What a fantastic dessert after dinner it would make.
    I liked that a glass of red wine helped you to finish the pie, haha! Red wine always helps. šŸ™‚

  • Kathleen

    This looks like the perfect summer pie!

  • jenny

    oh sweet lord.
    WHY! WHY! are we on opposite coasts?!
    i doubt that there was any left over, but i would have been your girl for coffee + pie the next morning, oh yes i would!!!!!!

    not only does it look SUPER NOM, it’s also *gorgeous* and i am just loving the color of that juice that leaked out just a bit šŸ™‚

    happy birthday papa shutterbean! xo

  • annette

    That pie looks delicious, and I have blueberries in the fridge begging to be used up, maybe this is their calling. I noticed in the fotos, that you have a lovely cuisinart, I am in the market for a new food processor, and am comparing cuisinarts, may I ask what size and model you have, and how long you’ve had it, and if you’re pleased with it, or if you have any complaints?? Any advice would be excellent, thanks!!

  • Dana

    After gorging on blueberries for the past week, I can definitely confirm they are my favorite berry and probably my favorite fruit. Blueberry pie is my fave pie – sensing a theme here? What a beautiful job you did with that pie. I steer clear of double crust pies – too much margin for error – but you did great!

    • Tracy

      Thank you! I think I prefer the ease of a streusel topping…or maybe a pumpkin pie! It’s a lot less work. I love blueberries too…especially in jams, pies & smoothies!

  • linsiloo

    Oh wow, this looks amazing!!! Good job on the pastry!

    ps. I found your site today and LOVE IT!!

  • Paulllett

    Your crust has a very nice flake to it. I like to grate my frozen fat into my flour (that I measured and put into the freezer for an hour) to ensure a perfect flake texture.

  • Paulllett

    For a pie crust that is easy to roll try this one. It make more than one pie but it is great to have on hand in the fridge. Great for pot pies or Quiche for lunch or dinner. I made pies two times a week for over then years in my job as a convent cook (now I am a professional chef) I found it to be a good one. You can substitute part of the lard for butter but not more than 50/50. I like 75/25 for texture and taste.

    ” BASIC PIE PASTRY ”
    This is not my own recipe. It comes from a product available in Canada called “Tenderflake Lard”. Yes indeed. Lard. Not shortening. Lard is available in the States but under different brand names. It looks somewhat like shortening and has a similar consistancy and is stark white in colour. Do not substitute the lard in this recipe for shortening as I don’t know how it will come out. If you don’t want to purchase lard then I suggest you find a recipe for pie crust made with shortening or purchase premade crusts.
    This particular recipe makes the best and the flakiest pastery I’ve ever tried. And it comes out perfect every time. Use this and you will get nothing but compliments on your pastry. This recipes stores and freezes well.
    Ingredients……..
    5 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
    2 teaspoons of salt
    1 lb of Tenderflake Lard
    1 tablespoon of vinegar
    1 egg, lightly beaten
    Water
    – Mix together the flour and salt
    – cut in Tenderflake Lard with a pastry blender or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse oatmeal or peas.
    – In a 1 cup measure, combine the vinegar and egg. Add water to make the 1 cup measure full. Gradually stir liquid into the flour/lard. Add only enough liquid to make dough cling together. You will probably have some liquid left over. You can use your pastry blender or knives to mix the liquid in well.
    – Gather this into a ball and divide it into 4 portions. Be sure to cover whatever you are not using at the moment with saran wrap to keep from drying out.
    Roll out each portion as you need it on a lightly floured surface. *NOTE* for pie shell you obviously just roll out one shell at a time. Make it bigger than the pie plate so there is plenty to edge the pan with. If you are making tarts, I use the lid of a one pound margarine tub to use as a cutter. Perfect size for muffin tins which you will probably make your tarts in šŸ™‚

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