Berry Pie

One of the food blogs I follow is Feast for the Eyes. She recently posted a recipe for a berry pie.  It has probably been over 20 years since I have made a pie crust from scratch.  Marie Callenders' frozen crusts have been used a lot.

But I decided to try this crust and it came out pretty well,

although I would like to have rolled it thinner, but I didn't have the patience.  It was still a very tasty crust, and the pie was delicious!  I used a combination of blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, and frozen olallieberries*.

          For the crust:

     12 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter

     ⅓ cup very cold Crisco

     3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

6-8 tablespoons ice water (about 1/2 cup)

           For the berries:

8 cups of fresh or frozen berries

1 cup sugar (less, if the berries aren't tart

5 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 pinch kosher salt

pats of butter under the crust

OPTIONAL

1 egg and splash water (for egg wash)

For the pie crust:

Dice the butter and Crisco. Return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture.  Make your ice water now, too.

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl. (Or use these directions to make your pie crust.**  )

Add the butter and shortening.  Cut in with a pastry cutter until the butter and Crisco are the size of small peas.

Pour the ice water in, starting with the smaller amount, until the dough begins to form a ball.

Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball.  Divide into two parts and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle.

Fold the dough in half, place in a 10-inch pie plate, and unfold to fit the pan.  Place back in refrigerator.  Roll out the top crust.  Wrap back in plastic and return to refrigerator until needed.  

(I've found the crust to be very thick because it uses 1/2 C more flour than most for a 2-crust pie.  I tried rolling it thinner, and it wasn't as good.)

For the berry filling:

Pick any stems and debris from the fresh berries.  Rinse and drain.

Combine cornstarch with the sugar and whisk to combine.

Add the sugar to the berries and allow to sit for a few minutes.

Taste to check for tartness.

Once you have the bottom layer of the pie crust in the pie plate, poke the bottom with a fork a few times.

Add the berries.

If desired, you can add a few pats of butter.

Cover with the top pie crust.

Cut slits for steam to escape.

Crimp to seal both pie crusts.

Whisk egg and water and brush the egg wash over the pie crust, before baking, if desired. This gives a nice golden color to the pie. If you have coarse sugar, it’s a nice tough to sprinkle some on top, if desired.

On a baking sheet, place the pie into a 375F oven and bake for about 50 minutes, or until golden.

Allow to cool for at least 4 hours before serving for the juices to set.

* Olallieberry: a blackish berry that is a hybrid of a loganberry and youngberry, resembles an elongated blackberry,

**King Arthur Pie Crust