Every year, for National Pi day, I make a pie. It makes math and numbers a little more fun, and the family seems to enjoy it. This year, I went classic…Classic Blueberry Pie, that is. I used frozen blueberries for a couple of reasons, the first being that we usually have a huge bag of frozen on hand for smoothies. The second reason is that fresh blueberries aren’t in season until summertime. Besides, I’m not going to wait until summertime to bake anything…Central Valley summers are no joke.
So Saturday morning, bright and early, I was making a pie. The night before, I made the dough, so in the morning, I simply combined the ingredients, prebaked the crust, filled it, and baked it up. Using a rolling pin, I flattened out the dough, used, a pizza cutter to make strips, and then criss-crossed the strips over the pie.
I purchased a really pretty pie plate just for this occasion. This recipe below is for a larger, pie plate (about 9 inches) and will fill it perfectly. Notice, though, that I didn’t roll out my crust all the way, so there was no extra crust around the pie (that is, you can see the pie plate around the edges).
Some sources swear by leaving the bottom uncooked (checkout the great debate on the best way to cook a pie, as reported by the New York Times) and based on this experience, I think I’ll go that route next time.
Serving Suggestions
- Top with whipped cream
- A la mode with ice cream
- With fried chicken!
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Classic Blueberry Pie
Equipment
- Pie plate
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup butter
- 6 tablespoon cold water
Filling
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 cups blueberries or a 1 lb bag of frozen blueberries
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice about 1/2 of a large, juicy lemon
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
Instructions
Make Pie Crust
- In a medium bowl, mix 2 cups of flour and the salt. Cut in butter using a pastry cutter or knives pulled through ingredients in opposite directions until particles are size of peas. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened. Add water if necessary.
- Gather pastry dough into a ball. Divide in half and shape into 2 flattened rounds. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold.
- Take out dough. With floured rolling pin (and lightly floured surface) roll one dough out to a round shape about 12 inches. This takes some time to get thin enough. When finished, fold it gently into fourths (to make it easier to pick up) and place lightly in your pie plate.
- Roll out other dough ball into a similar shape as the first. Using a pie cutter, run it through the dough to make strips, about an inch wide. Set aside.
Make Pie
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large bowl, mix sugar flour and cinnamon. Stir in blueberries. Stir in the melted butter. Mix well and pour into pie plate.
- Take the strips and place half of them across the pie. Then, take the other half of the strips and place across the first set, so they make a lattice, criss-cross crust.
- Place aluminum foil around the edges of the pie, as this part tends to cook first and will burn if uncovered the entire time.
- Bake 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes longer or until the uncovered crust is golden brown.
- Let cool for 2 to 3 hours before serving.
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker.
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