Blueberry Pie

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by: Ms. Bonelli (Speech-Language Pathologist)

This recipe is special to me because blueberry pie was my grandmother’s favorite type of pie. Though this is not my grandmother’s recipe, it is very similar to the one she made. It is also the very first pie recipe I made on my ongoing journey to become a pie expert.   

Source: Art of the Pie by Kate McDermott

Ingredients

DOUBLE CRUST PIE DOUGH:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon size pieces
1/2 cup ice water + 1-2 tablespoons more as needed

FILLING:
5-6 cups (about 1 3/4 pounds), blueberries, fresh or unthawed frozen
3/4 sugar
A pinch of nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch or quick-cooking tapioca
1 recipe double crust pie dough (see above ingredients)
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon sugar, for sprinkling on top of the pie

EGG WASH:
1 egg white plus 1 tablespoon water, fork beaten

Recipe Steps

FOR THE DOUBLE CRUST PIE DOUGH:

  1. Put all ingredients but the ice water in a large bowl.
  2. With clean hands, quickly mash the mixture together, or use a pastry blender with an up and down motion, until the ingredients look like cracker crumbs with lumps the size of peas and almonds. These lumps make your crust flaky.
  3. Sprinkle ice water over the mixture and stir lightly with a fork.
  4. Squeeze a handful of dough to see if it holds together. Mix in more water as needed.
  5. Divide the dough in half and make two chubby discs about 5 inches across.
  6. Wrap the discs separately in plastic wrap, and chill for about an hour.

ROLLING INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Take out the dough discs and let them temper until they feel slightly soft to the touch and easy to roll out. Unwrap one disc and place it on counter top.
  2. Thump the disc with your rolling pin several times. Turn it over and thump the other side.
  3. Roll the crust out from the center in all directions until it is 1-2 inches larger than your pie pan.
  4. Fold the dough over the top of the pin and lay it in the pie pan carefully.
  5. Don’t worry if the crust needs to be patched together. Paint a little water where it needs to be patched and “glue” on the patch piece.
  6. Put the filling in the pie and repeat the process with the other side.

FILLING:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F
  2. Put the blueberries, sugar, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice, flour, and cornstarch or quick-cooking tapioca in a big bowl, and mix lightly until the fruit is coated.
  3. Roll out the bottom dough and place it in your pie pan.
  4. Add the blueberry filling and dot it with little pieces of butter.
  5. Roll out the remaining dough, lay it over the fruit, trip, crimp, and cut 5-6 vents on top, or cut strips and weave a lattice top.
  6. Brush the crust with some egg white wash.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees F. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for 35-40 minutes more. When there are 10-15 minutes of bake time left, open the oven, pull the pie out, and quickly and evenly sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar. Close the oven and continue baking for 10-15 minutes. Look for the steady bubbling of the fruit filling coming through the vents or latticework to make sure the filling is fully cooked.
  8. Cool the pie before serving so the fruit filling can set up.
  9. ENJOY!