Best-Ever Deep-Dish Blueberry Pie
If you wish to make a … pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
– Carl Sagan.
This post was originally going to be for cake. That’s right – delicious, delectable cake. But woe is me – neither my lemon bundt cake nor my layer cake was remotely edible worked out, so I decided to focus on pie. Because if cakes are my Achilles’ heel, pies would be my forte.
As I’ve said elsewhere on this blog, some of my earliest baking memories concern my mom and my grandma and pie-making. Which makes me wonder about the connection between baking skill, inclination, sense memory and childhood. Is it the happy recollection that makes me enjoy making pie, and hence keep doing it, leading to the impression that I’m naturally good at it? Or is it that something actually did stick in my little kid brain watching those beloved hands roll out pie dough time and again, my little mitts sometimes helping?
Whatever it is, it’s gratifying. Not quite as much as making bread, but close. And this here, an amazing recipe for a deep-dish blueberry pie that has its origins in one of the Bon Apétit Best Recipes series, almost makes up for those disastrous cakes. (Almost. But I’m determined to make a decent cake someday, so watch out.)
Reality Bakes
It was a hot day and the time between chilled-stiff-and-unworkable dough and melting-butter-needs-to-go-in-the-fridge-again dough seemed like moments. So I alternated between the two crusts, rolling one out and chilling the other one, then switching. It meant a lot of walks back and forth across the yard to the ancient, full-sized fridge in the garage (tiny house, remember?), but gave me a chance to work off the pending pie I would be eating. I also think raw sugar would have been really pretty sprinkled on the top, so I’ll do that next time.
Best-Ever Deep-Dish Blueberry Pie
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and diced
- 1/2 cup ice water*
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
For the filling:
- 8 cups blueberries
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp water
- Coarse sugar (optional)
Instructions
Dough:
- In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, and salt. Move dry ingredients to a food processor and mix with 1/2 cup of room temperature butter until butter is fully integrated with no visible lumps. Add half of the chilled butter (1 stick) to the mix and pulse the processor about 8 to 10 times in short pulses, until butter is in pea-sized chunks. Add the other 1/2 cup (1 stick) of chilled butter and pulse only 4 or 5 times in brief bursts, leaving larger chunks of butter.
- Return dough mixture to the large bowl. In a small bowl, mix ice water and lemon juice.* Drizzle about half of the liquid mixture over the dough and mix with a fork until dough starts coming together in shaggy, clumpy pieces. Drizzle a little more of the liquid mixture and knead the dough in the bowl just a few times; it should still be dry-looking and shaggy but starting to come together. Use remaining ice water/lemon juice as necessary to round up smaller, dry bits. Transfer the dough to a work surface.
- Divide dough in two equal pieces. Working with the first half, press dough together, being sure to incorporate any dry bits. Form dough into a round and wrap in plastic wrap. Repeat with other half of dough, then chill both rounds for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Filling:
- Toss together in a large bowl the blueberries, cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Set aside.
- Remove dough from the fridge and let rest on the counter at room temperature for 5 minutes. One at a time, roll out the disks on a lightly floured surface into 15- to 16-inch rounds about 1/8-inch thick. Transfer one rolled-out round to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet to chill while you cut the other one into a lattice.
- Slice remaining round into twelve 1-inch strips. (A pizza cutter works great here.) Retrieve chilling, uncut round and cover with parchment, then transfer lattice strips to the parchment and chill for 10 minutes.
Assembly:
- Remove pie crusts from the fridge and let sit for 5 minutes. Transfer whole dough round to a deep pie dish. Press dough into edges of dish and then trim, leaving about a 1/2-inch overhang. Spoon in the filling and smooth out across the top. Dot the top of the filling with butter pieces.
- Lay 6 strips of the latticed dough vertically across filling parallel to each other, leaving about 1/2 inch between them. Rotate pie plate and lay another 6 strips vertically over first set. (For a narrower pattern, turn the pie to about 2 o'clock; for a perpendicular pattern, turn to 3 o'clock.) Weave the lattice strips, if so desired.
- Trim lattice ends so strips overhang bottom round by about 1/2 inch. Fold loose ends under the bottom round, pinching to seal each one, then crimp pie edge. Beat egg with 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl. Brush edges and lattice lightly with the egg wash,. Sprinkle with coarse or raw sugar, if using.
- Chill the pie in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and place rack in lower third of the oven.
- Take pie out of freezer and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Continue to bake 60-70 minutes longer, until crust is deep golden and juices are thick and bubbling. Start checking at the 50-minute mark for crust over-browning and loosely tent with foil if necessary.
- When pie is done, transfer it to a cooling rack for 4 to 5 hours before serving, though overnight is better, so pie can set. Store at room temperature covered in foil.
Notes
