Rose's Alpha Bakers: Black & Blueberry Pie

Another week (the 7th), another recipe from my bake-through adventure with Rose's Alpha Bakers. Up this week is the Black & Blueberry Pie, from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Baking Bible.

There is something about making pies that I love. I don't know if it's all of the different steps involved or the rolling out of the dough. Or maybe it's the fact that you can combine, basically, flour and butter and a little liquid, fill it with something yummy, and it's transformed in the oven. I guess I should keep making pies until I figure it out!

gorgeous...pies, pies, pies!

time for a slice

I ended up making more of a blue & blackberry pie (heavier on the blues) because 1) blackberries are super expensive in New England in the dead of winter, and 2) I had 4 cups of frozen blueberries leftover from a huge box of organic Maine wild blueberries that I got delivered with my Boston Organics service last summer. I had a wonderful summer full of blueberries and baked goods full of blueberries, including these amazing Blueberry Muffins with a Cinnamon Crumb Topping (recipe posted) which I made several times.

organic wild blueberries, a taste of Maine

Overall, the pie was very good, especially with vanilla ice cream. I've never made a cream cheese crust before, but it was delicious! It was super flaky and tender. As a whole pie, it looked gorgeous with my "berry" steam holes on the top crust and the little leaf cutouts. My pie filling, however, was way too liquidy! I'm glad I wasn't serving it at a party or it would have been a huge disappointment (although the taste was great, so hopefully no one would have minded). It barely held up taking it out of the pie plate.

I waited the instructed 2-hours before cutting into it, but am guessing that using mostly blueberries and/or frozen berries is probably what made it so liquidy. I probably should have cooked it longer but was worried the top was becoming too brown. The pie was also a bit on the sweet side, which again, is probably because I used more blueberries than blackberries. It would have been nice to have a recipe adjustment for all (or mostly) blueberries and for using frozen berries.

I'm going to pour out the liquidy juice, puree and strain it, and make some sort of cocktail with it...I bet it will be amazing! {update...} Yum, my first Black & Blueberry Pie Cocktail! I spooned some of the pie juices into one of my 1920s style champagne glasses, topped it up with prosecco and voila...deliciousness!

take a few tablespoons of black & blueberry pie juice and
a couple of blueberries, then add prosecco...

...and YUM! A sparkling, blueberry-flavored drink.

Here are my pie photos...

mise en place for the crust

I prefer to make pie crusts by hand so I used a bowl and the countertop.

First, the dry ingredients are whisked together. Next, the cream cheese is added and, using your fingertips (be sure they're covered in flour the whole time), it's incorporated until it's the size of coarse meal.

the different stages of the cream cheese incorporation

After the cream cheese was fully blended, I added the butter, then dumped everything onto the countertop. I used my pastry blender and bench scrapper to incorporate the butter until it was broken down into pea-sized pieces. During this part, I didn't use my hands or their heat would melt the butter which would ruin the flakiness of the final pie crust.

starting to cut the butter into the pastry

nearly there...

...that looks good!

The liquid ingredients - vodka (which I substituted for cider vinegar) and heavy cream - are drizzled over the dry ingredients.

adding the cream and vodka

Then I used my bench scrapper to "cut" the liquid ingredients into the dough. When it was starting to come together, I used my hands to quickly knead it all together (again, don't use your hands too much or the butter will melt).

cutting in the liquid ingredients

starting to knead it all together...nearly there

Finally done and the dough has completely come together. The dough is cut into two equal pieces (for the top and bottom crusts), placed between plastic wrap, then refrigerated so the dough can rest. At this point, I like to give it a little bit of a roll before putting in the fridge. I find it's easier to roll this way.

my top and bottom crusts

slightly rolled out, then popped into the fridge to rest

after it's rested and chilled, the dough is ready to roll

using the top piece of plastic wrap, I eased it into the pie plate

cleaned up the edges, then back into the fridge to chill while
I make the filling

mise en place for the pie filling

so juicy!
I might just eat these right now...no one would notice, right?

I love lemon zest! After mixing the dry ingredients,
the zest and then lemon juice are added.

even though it was only 15 degrees outside, it was a clear, sunny morning
when I made the pie. Here are the berries sitting in the sun.

the other ingredients were mixed together then the berries added...
stir gently!

the perfect amount of filling! Rose's recipes are always
perfect in this respect

I decorated the top crust with leaf cutouts, brushed with heavy cream and then sprinkled with sugar to give it some shine when baked.

ready to bake...so pretty :)

all done! Gorgeous. I think this is why I love pies -
so basic in parts, yet so amazing in sum.

the juices are bubbling through

here is a slice...a bit too juicy and the filling too "loose" for my liking

I had a bunch of dough scraps so I re-rolled the dough and made these little strips. The pink ones have the leftover juice from the berry mixture. The juice was so delicious! For the other ones, I brushed them with cream and sprinkled with sugar.

brushed with juice or cream and sprinkled with sugar

then baked...yum

a good shot of how flaky the pie crust was

Bye for now...

Flakey Pie Crust...filled two ways

I love making pies - especially the crust. I always make my pie crusts by hand and I love the satisfaction when they come out perfectly flaky. I also love that you can fill a pie crust with so many different things - meat, veg, fruit, nuts, chocolate...savory or sweet, it's your choice!

Here are two pies I made recently with an all-butter crust - an onion, bacon and cheddar quiche and a blueberry pie. Both were scrumptious!

cutting in the cold butter by hand using my old trusty pastry cutter

keep going until the mixture is about the size of peas
(although you do want some variation in the size of the butter pieces)

add ice cold water, a few tablespoons at a time, and mix gently with a fork

It's okay that there is still some dry flour as you can see below. In my opinion it's better to be on the dry side rather than the wet side at this stage. The dry flour will be absorbed during the kneading and resting. If the dough is too wet you will end up adding more flour which will end up making your dough tough.

turned out onto my bench for kneading

At this point, you want to knead the dough as little as possible as you form it into a solid mass. Once you add the water (or any liquid) to the flour, too much kneading will overwork the gluten in the flour which will make your dough tough. Over-kneading will also incorporate the butter into the dough more than you want, which will result in a less flaky dough. You want the little butter pieces to stay intact because this helps your crust flake when you bake it (the water in the butter turns into steam and creates separate layers in the finished crust).

So, always try to quit a bit before you think you should! I try to knead my pie (and scone) dough no more than 15-17 times. My granddaddy - the best baker in our family - says 17 times for his scone recipe but sometimes I can get away with 15.

stop as soon as the dough comes together
as you can see, all of the dry flour has now been incorporated

this recipe makes enough for two crusts

oh how I love making pie crusts - beautiful!

flatten each half into a round disk (will help you roll it out more easily)
and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes - an hour or two is better
the cold rest period both re-chills the butter rests the gluten

I like to roll my crusts ot between two pieces of wax paper. This way you need very little extra flour and it is much less likely to stick to the bench or your rolling pin. It also makes it easy to transfer to the pie plate. If using this method, after every few rolls, lift the wax paper off the dough (on both top and bottom). This will keep the dough from stretching and also from sticking to the wax paper. If you find the dough does start to stick, leave it in between the wax paper, slide it onto a sheet pan and pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes to re-chill the butter. Also remember to turn your rotate the dough a little after every roll or two so you can keep it as round as possible.

rolling out my dough

done!

Place your rolled out dough over the pie plate and gently lift and settle it into the corners of the pie plate. You don't want to stretch it here or it will just retreat when you bake it (as you can see my quiche crust did a little!). Trim the edge so you are left with about 1 inch of overhanging dough around the whole thing. Then, tuck the overhanging dough underneath so you are left with a nice thick edge. This will make it easier to crimp or flute.

tuck the overhanging dough underneath to form the edge

flute the edges (as I did for the blueberry pie)
or leave plain (as I did for the quiche)

After fitting the dough into the pie plates, put them back in the fridge for another period of chilling and relaxing. About 20 minutes should do it.

For the quiche filling, I followed Julia Child's base recipe for quiche. Simply put 3 eggs in a measuring cup and then fill to 1 1/2 cups with heavy cream or whole milk (or a combination of the two). Super easy, right?

Nutmeg goes really well with egg dishes so I also like to add a bit of freshly grated nutmeg to my quiche.

my eggs and milk mixture

I love onions - the more the merrier!

grated Irish cheddar went in first, then the caramelized onions, then the bacon
and finally the egg and milk mixture is poured over the top

baked to a golden brown
(about 55 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean)

delicious!

For the second pie I made blueberry. My mom and I had been experimenting with making a blueberry pie that would still have a nice bottom crust; we decided that using frozen blueberries - and not thawing them before you bake - was the best way to keep the bottom crust crispy. We mixed frozen blueberries, a bit of sugar, a bit of flour (to thicken the juices), lemon juice, lemon zest and a sprinkle of spices (cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg). Dot the top with butter and you are done.

mix all the ingredients in a bowl...can't get much easier than that

pour into the crust and dot with butter

top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy

Bye for now...