Recipe: Popped Blueberry Pie

I’ve been waiting 5 years to make this pie…  5 YEARS!  Considering it’s 4th of July and Kyle just finished the Peach-Ginger Pie I made 3 days ago I figured today was the perfect day to make a pie.  Might as well make it the one I’ve been wanting forever.

I’ve never been a huge fan of blueberry pie.  It’s always mushy and runny or too thick and gummy.  Its really hard to get it perfect so I never even bother with it.  But 5 years ago Kyle and I were eating at a random restaurant in New Jersey and I had a side of blueberry pie that blew my mind. It was a mixture of cooked and fresh blueberries set in a pie crust.  Genius!  The best of both worlds.  The strong, deep flavor of a cooked blueberry and the snap and texture of a fresh blueberry.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Then life got busy (I moved to DC) and kinda forgot about the blueberry pie perfection.

So here I am, finally making this pie, recording the recipe as I go so that you don’t make the same mistake as me.  Don’t wait 5 years to make this pie!  Trust me, it’s more than worth the tiny amount of effort it takes to make it.

I decided to make a deep dish pie because I wanted to consume as much as possible so the recipe below is a bit bigger than usual. It’s enough for 2 deep dish pies because when I make pie I always make extra dough so the next time I want pie I’ve only got filling to worry about.  I’m using a 10″ deep dish pie pan.  An 8″ springform would work in the same way if you’ve got one of those, you just might need to blind bake a little longer.  If you are doing this in a traditional 9″ pie crust you can make a half size recipe.  Any excess dough you can turn into hand pies or something yummy.  I’m sure no dough will go to waste.

RECIPE

CRUST
2 deep dish single crust pie shells- for one pie make a half recipe or save the other half refrigerated up to one week or frozen up to 1 month.

5.75 cups AP Flour
2.5 tsp salt
15 ounces cubed and chilled (almost a full pound)
1/3 cup ice water
2.5 TBPS chilled vodka

1 egg whisked

DIRECTIONS

1) Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add butter and use hands or forks to cut butter into the flour. Keep going until the butter is no longer viseable but stop before the dough starts to come together. Alternatively you can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment to cut the butter into the flour but keep it on a low speed and don’t let it overmix

2) Add the chilled water and vodka and use hands to bring together into a dough. If it seems a little dry add more water ¼ tsp at a time up to 1 tsp.

3) Divide into 2 packets and allow to rest at room temperature (yup, you read that right, room temperature) 1-6 hours.  For this recipe you will need 1 blind baked shell.  If you have extra dough you can wrap and reserve refrigerated up to 1 week and frozen up to one month.

4) Roll out the 1/2 dough to fit your pie pan.  Place in the pan and dock the bottom with a fork.  Decorated edges as desired and chill for 30-45 minutes.  Blind bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes then remove the weights, re-dock, and bake an additional 6-8 minutes or until done.  Remove from the oven and brush with whisked yolks immediately to create a seal.  This will keep the crust from getting soggy.  Reserve until ready to fill with blueberry.

 

FILLING

5 pints (10 cups) blueberries, fresh and hopefully local, divided
2 lemons zested
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
5 TBSP cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste if you prefer sweeter, up to 3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1) Place 3 cups of blueberries in a pot with water, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Bring to a simmer for 5-6 minutes.  Turn off heat.

2) In a bowl combine the sugar and cornstarch.  Whisk to combine.  Add slowly, while whisking, to the burberry syrup.  Return to a medium temperature and allow to return to a simmer, whisking the whole time to keep it smooth and prevent scorching.   The mixture will become VERY thick like pudding.

3) Place half the remaining uncooked blueberries in a large bowl.  Pour the hot blueberries over them and stir to combine.  Cover with syran wrap and allow to sit for 15 minutes.

4) After 15 minutes has passed add the rest of the blueberries to the mixture and stir to combine.  This will give 3 textures of blueberries, fully cooked, partially cooked and fresh.  Make sure everything is evenly coated.  Soon the blueberries into the pie crust (its okay if its still hot) and gently press down tightly.  Decorate as desired (or not at all.)  I like to serve it with whipped cream although a pre-baked Oatmeal Streusel Topping sprinkled on top while the filling is still warm would be delicious too!

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.