Blueberry Pie

Berry picking was a regular summer weekend activity for my family when I was growing up.  Most berry picking expeditions were fun, but there were times when we kids dreaded those hot afternoons on logging roads and in the woods, when the only breezes were fanned by deer flies and mosquitoes and the berries were few.  When we found a good patch, however, it was fun to fill our pails while we looked forward to all the good things our mother would make.  

My sister Barbara published a small book for our parents’ 50th wedding anniversary with photos and notes by my siblings and me.  One that I contributed was about berry picking.  

A Catalog of Berries

What did we gather

From roadsides and fence rows?

What fruits did we pick

On hot summer days?

First wild strawberries,

Then Juneberries and blueberries,

Followed by raspberries, blackberries

And pin cherries and sometimes some

Chokecherries and wild plums too.

Made into shortcakes,

Baked into pies,

Turned into jams

And jellies and sauces

To cool us on hot days

And warm us on cold days

With memories of summer

In the middle of winter.

But enough of this.  The blueberries are plump and starting to ripen.  In two weeks, the Lord willing, you can be picking your own blueberries.  Just drive the backwoods through the county and national forests north of highway 70 until you find some open pine woods.  

Stop the car and walk into the woods.  You may not find any the first two or three stops, but if you keep looking, suddenly you will be walking through a carpet of blueberries.  Drop to your knees and fill your pail, then head home to make blueberry pie. 

Here is my recipe.  It is based on one from an old cookbook of my mother’s that I used for my first blueberry pie in 1954.  It is best made with wild blueberries, but tame blueberries are okay.   The pie is easy to make and delicious, especially when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

INGREDIENTS:

Pie dough for a double crust

4 cups fresh wild blueberries

3/4 cup sugar plus extra to decorate the top crust

4 T all purpose flour

Dash of salt

2 T lemon juice

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. butter

PROCEDURE:

Wash the blueberries and remove any stems, leaves or bad berries.   Drain the berries and mix them with the other ingredients in a large bowl.  Set the bowl aside for at least fifteen minutes while you are making the pie crust.

Preheat the oven to 450º.

Line a nine-inch pie plate with the crust.  Stir the blueberries and fill the crust.  Dot with four or five pea-sized pieces of butter.  Cover with a top crust and seal the edges.  Make a few slits in the crust to allow steam to escape and sprinkle a little sugar on top.  Put it into the hot oven and bake for ten minutes.   Reduce the heat to 350º and bake thirty-five or forty minutes until the crust is golden brown.  Allow the pie to cool thoroughly before serving.

NOTE:  This pie always seems to run over in the oven.  Put a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven to catch the overflow.  This is actually a pretty good idea for any pie.  If you prefer, make a lattice for the top crust.

Plain pie Crust

I wish that I could say that all my pie crusts turn out great.  Say it truthfully, that is.   Making great pie crusts seems to be more than measuring the ingredients exactly or mixing them properly.  I really think that great pie crusts result from some magical words spoken softly as the baker is working at the counter.

My first pie crust was a disaster, but my mother gave me three rules for making good pie crusts.  I think of them every time I set out to make a crust:  First, cut the right amount of lard or shortening into the flour; second, don’t add too much water; and third, never add flour after adding the water.

Keep those rules in mind and you will find that making good pie crusts is pretty easy.  While the recipe below may not produce prize winners every time, it will always give you flaky crusts.  And once in a while you will produce a crust that will wow everyone.  Just say those magic words.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour plus extra flour for rolling out crust
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cold lard or shortening
2 T cold butter
4 to 5 T ice water

PROCEDURE:

Set aside a cup with a couple of ice cubes and water in it.  Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the salt.  With a pastry blender or table fork, cut in about a half cup of the lard or shortening until the flour looks like coarsely ground corn meal.  Cut in the remaining lard or shortening and the butter just long enough that you have clumps of flour about the size of small garden peas.  If the clumps are too large, work in an extra tablespoon or two of flour.

Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of ice water over the flour and toss it lightly with a fork for 30 seconds or so until it begins to clump together.  Press the dough into a ball.  Depending on the humidity and your flour, you may need to add a little more water to get the flour to clump together properly.

Too little water is better than too much, but water is needed to form the crust.  Though you need to measure carefully, the exact proportion of ingredients needed seems to vary slightly according to temperature and humidity. You really need to develop a “feel” for the job, so just plan on making a few crusts until you get the hang of it.  Let the dough chill in the refrigerator a few minutes before rolling it out.

On your bread board, sprinkle a sheet of wax paper with flour.  Dust your rolling pin with flour.  Divide the chilled dough in half and with your hands make a ball.  Press the ball on the floured paper until you have an inch thick round.  Turn it over, brush flour over the paper if necessary and press the dough into a thinner round.  Roll the dough with the rolling pin by rolling from the middle of the round outwards, working in a circle.  When the round is roughly doubled in size, turn it over and continue rolling until it is the size you need.  It should be about an inch larger than the pie plate.

Put the pie plate upside down on the dough, slide your hand under the waxed paper and invert the crust over the plate.  Peel off the paper and work the crust into the plate. being careful not to stretch the crust.  Trim the crust with a sharp knife.  If the crust tears or is not centered exactly right, you can dampen the problem area and use pieces of dough to patch it.

If you are making a single crust pie, use a fork or your fingers to make a decorative border.  For a double crust pie, put in the filling and roll out the top crust on the waxed paper.  Use the paper to help fold the crust in half and slip the crust on top.  If you want a lattice top, cut the top crust into strips and weave it over the filling.

To make sure that the top crust seals to the bottom, dampen the edge of the bottom crust with a wet finger before you lay the top on the pie.  Trim with a sharp knife and seal the edges with a fork or by pinching the edges together with your fingers.

NOTE:  It is important to keep the crust cool; ice water helps.   On a hot day,you can put the dough in the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Blueberries will be ripe soon, and I will post the recipe for blueberry pie in two or three weeks.