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Blueberry Night Sky Pie

Preparation Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Makes: 1 (9-inch round or 8-inch square) pie

Blueberry Pie in both a round and square dish

Equipment

  • Pie Dish (either square or round)
  • Rolling pin
  • Bench scraper
  • Star and moon shaped cutouts if desired

Pie Crust Ingredients

  • 3 scant cups (12 ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • About 1 cup (8 Ounces) fat, such as butter, lard, or shortening
  • 1/2 cup (4 ounces) ice cold water or fruit juice
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Pie Filling Ingredients

  • 4 to 5 cups fresh blueberries
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon or a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, if desired
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • Egg wash (beaten egg, or egg beaten with cream)
  • Sanding or turbinado sugar for dusting

Description

We come from everywhere in the world, but when we take our fork to a triangular piece of barely thickened fruit, sitting in a buttery flaky crust cut out of a round whole pie, we are participating in a happy group ritual. For me, a round pie with a robust, not-too-thin crust has the golden ratio of flaky buttery goodness to just-sweet-enough thickened fruit. This pie has just that, and is best sliced and served with a cup of nonartisanal, maybe even percolated coffee.

Instructions

Pie Crust

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and sugar. Cut the fat into tablespoon-sized pieces and add them to the flour mixture. Use your fingers to combine the fat with the flour until the fat is reduced to uneven crumbles, some as large as an almond and others as small as peas. Drizzle over the water and vinegar, and gently stir until the mass comes together. Don’t worry if the dough is a little shaggy; it’s alright as long as it sticks together.
  2. Dump the mixture out onto your work surface. Use a bench scraper to gather the crumbs into a mass of dough.
  3. Divide the dough in half and form into flat disks. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate until well-chilled, at least an hour and up to two days. You can also freeze the dough for up to 1 month.

Pie Filling

  1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.
  2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the disks of dough until it is about 2 inches larger in diameter than the baking plate. Fit the dough into the plate and refrigerate. (If the dough is very firm, whack it a few times with the rolling pin to soften so the dough is easier to roll.) Roll out the second disk to make a top crust that is slightly larger than the diameter of the top of the pie plate. Cut out star and moon shapes from the top crust, saving the cutouts for decoration. (If you want to decorate the top with just cutouts, instead of a lattice, cut out more shapes as desired.) Refrigerate the top crust and cutouts.
  3. In a large bowl, toss together blueberries, sugar, salt, lemon juice and cinnamon. If the berries need more sugar. add 1 tablespoon at a time. Add the cornstarch to the seasoned berries and toss well.
  4. Remove dough-lined pie plate from the refrigerator and fill with the berries, spreading so the berries evenly fill the pan.
  5. Cover the pie: Remove the top crust and/or cutouts from the refrigerator and fit over the prepared pie. Crimp the top crust with the bottom crust. If desired, brush the top of the pie with egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar.
  6. Put the pie on the lowest rack of oven and cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, move pie to a rack in the middle of the oven and reduce the heat to 375 degrees. Keep an eye on the pie; if it begins to brown too quickly, loosely tent with foil.
  7. Continue to bake until the crust is a deep golden color, the filling is bubbling throughout, and the juices have thickened, about 25 minutes more. Carefully remove and cool on a rack until ready to serve. The filling will continue to thicken as the pie cools.
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