A Blueberry Pie to Write Home About

I was checking on here the other day and I couldn't believe that I didn't have my blueberry pie recipe on here!  Not surprising really as when I first moved over here in the year 2000, blueberries were not an ingredient that was readily available.  Thankfully that has changed now and we have tons of them, and at reasonable prices.  In fact, Todd and I now grow our own.


 

You know, I must have tried about a bazillion blueberry pie recipes in my lifetime, but I always come back to the same one.   I think that when it comes to something as delicious as blueberries . . .  you can't get much tastier than a simple, honest and straightforward recipe.



A simple recipe which allows that delicate sweetness of the blueberries to shine through in an honest way, with no faffing about or other flavours to distract you.



This recipe is one from a paperback edition of the Fanny Farmer Cooking School Cookbook, which I purchased back when I was still in high school.  It's about wore out now, which tells you just what a good cookery book it is!!  You can't go wrong with simple flavours, presented in the correct way, and done well.  But then  . . .  I'll let this pie speak for itself.

 

*Blueberry Pie*

Serves 8

Printable Recipe 

I only just realized I didn't have my blueberry pie recipe on here.  It's time I fixed that, so here it is.  I think it's the best.  I am biased however. (Recipe adapted from an early 1970 edition of the Fanny Farmer Cooking School Cookbook)

pastry for a two crust 9 inch pie

800 g of fresh blueberries, picked over and cleaned (about 5 cups)

3 TBS flour

the zest of one lemon

200g (1 cup) sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 TBS lemon juice

2 TBS butter

egg wash (1 small egg beaten with 1 tsp water)

demerera sugar to sprinkle

Butter a 9 inch deep pie dish.  Roll out half of the pastry to 1/8 inch thickness to fit into the pan, leaving 1/2 to 1 inch overhang.

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.   Have ready a baking tray lined with foil and sprayed with nonstick spray.  (Just in case of overflow of juices from the pie.)

Whisk the salt and sugar together with the flour and lemon zest in a large bowl.   Whisk in the lemon juice.   Add the berries and set aside for about 5 minutes.  Pour into the bottom crust.  Dot with butter.

Roll out the top crust to cover.  Brush the edges of the bottom crust with some egg wash and then Place the top crust over the berries to cover.  Press edges firmly and then trim.  Crimp decoratively.  Cut a few slashes in the top to vent.  Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with demerara sugar.  (turbinado)  Place onto the baking tray and place on the bottom rack of the oven.   Bake for 10 minutes.




Reduce the oven temperature to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Move the baking tray up to the middle oven rack and bake for a further 30 to 40 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.   If you see that the crust is browning too quickly, cover lightly with foil.  Allow to cool before cutting into wedges to serve.   Alternately it may be served warm, but the pieces won't hold as well together.



I still miss the wild blueberries that we picked every summer when I was growing up.  It took a lot of them to make a pie, but the flavour was incomparable.  The cultivated ones are not quite as filled with the joys of summer, but you gotta do what you gotta do!