Deep Dish Berry Pie

Have I expressed my love of summer enough on here? Probably, but yet I can't seem to stop doing it. Maybe it's because my garden is in full bloom, and the veggies are budding, which means garden fresh deliciousness is right around the corner. Or maybe it's because the farmers markets are open, and the grocery stores have the most beautiful and cheap local produce. My once "expensive berry habbit" (as the boyfriend likes to call it) is now extrememly economical, so I decided to make a pie. A deep dish pie, so full of berries, they were literally oozing out the sides, bottom, and center. Yum.

Crust:
2 1/4 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp of sugar
2 sticks of butter, in pieces and chilled
1/4 cup of cold water

Filling
1 pint of blueberries
2 small containers of blackberries (12 oz)
2 cups of strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 lemon, juiced
3 tbsp of flour
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 egg
1 tbsp of half and half

In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture is crumbley. With processor running, add water and mix until a dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured piece of partchment paper and form into a disk, refridgerate for 30 minutes, in the mean time make filling: In a large bowl, mix the berries, sugar, lemon juice, flour and cinnamon until combined. When dough is chilled, roll out into a large circle, about 18 inches. Line an 9 inch spring form pan, or a deep dish pie tin with the dough leaving the overhang. Pour the filling into the crust and then fold the overhang back over the pie, leaving a small cirlce exposed in the middle. Refridergate pie until firm, about 30 minutes. Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees, and position rack in the bottom third of the oven.Whisk together the egg and half and half. Brush the exposed crust of the pie with mixture. Place tin on a cookie sheet coated in foil to prevent a mess. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and continue baking until juices are bubbling up, about 35 minutes more. Let cool before serving. If you used a spring form pan, run a knife around the edge of the pie to loosen, before releasing spring. (adapted from Martha)

Happy Eating.

Birthday Pie

Tuesday was my birthday, so what did I do to prepare. Well I baked a pie, of course! I actually made this same pie for an Easter party on Saturday and made both crusts then and I did slight variations on the recipe for the filling and topping. The pie I made was a mixed berry crumb pie. For both, I started with a recipe for blueberry pie, and used a mix of berries instead. For one I used the exact recipe for the crumb topping and for one, I experimented a little. I loved the changes I made, but if you have time to make two pies, you can decide for yourself. Here is the recipe for the crust. Here is the original pie recipe. And here is my recipe.



Mixed Berry Pie:
1 Pie crust - Pre-dried out and browned slightly (see the original recipe for more details)
3/4 cup + 5 Tbsp flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, divided
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp of cinnamon
1 stick of very cold butter, cut into pieces
3 cups of blueberries
1 cup of raspberries
1 cup of blackberries

Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and pre-heat oven to 375. Then, wash the berries and put them in a large bowl, then add 4 Tbsp of flour and 1/3 cup of brown sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Toss to combine and coat berries. Take pie crust and sprinkle 1 tbsp of flour and 1 tbsp of sugar over the bottom. Pour berry mixture into the pie tin. For the topping you have a few options: food processor, blender, or hand. I tried the hand and blender methods, and both worked great. If using the hand method, combine ingredients in the bowl you used for the fruit, otherwise load into the blender or processor. Combine 3/4 cup of flour, 2/3 cup of brown sugar, salt, and 2 tsp of cinnamon, mix together. Add cold butter and toss so the butter is coated. Then blend (process) together in pulses until it is in delicious clumps. If using the hand method rub flour mixture and butter in your fingers until it is in the same style clumps (this obviously takes longer than the other ways, but less clean up). Spread the topping over the berry mixture. Bake for about an hour, until topping is just bubbling threw in spots and top is lovely and browned. Let cool. Serve and enjoy!

Happy Eating