Blackberry Pie
Yield: 1 9-inch pie
2 balls Classic Pie Dough (recipe below)
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 cups fresh blackberries
1 1/2 tablespoon butter; cut into 8 tiny pieces
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons raw cane sugar
Dust a work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Roll out one of the balls of dough into a 12-inch round. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate and gently work it into place, folding any overhang under and crimping the edge as you go. Wrap and refrigerate the crust for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl or cup, stir together the lemon juice and zest. In a large bowl, stir together the sugars, flour, and salt. Add the blackberries and gently toss everything together with your hands. Sprinkle the lemon juice mixture over the top of the berries and toss again. Pour the blackberry mixture into the prepared pie shell and scatter the pieces of butter over the top.
Dust a work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Roll the remaining ball of chilled dough into a 12-inch round and place it over the pie filling. Trim the dough, leaving about a 12-inch overhang. Crimp the edges together, brush with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with the raw sugar. Cut six long steam vents into the top crust. Bake the pie until the filling bubbles and the crust is golden, about 1 hour. Cool the pie on a rack for at least 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.
The pie can be stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 2 days.
Bring it to room temperature or reheat it in a warm oven before serving.
Baked note: Blackberries arc sometimes labeled “Marion berries” or “Marion blackberries” as this is the most prolific commercial type of blackberry (especially in the western half of the United States).
It is, essentially. a crossbred berry notable for both its taste and its production.
Classic Pie Dough
Yields 2 balls of dough. Enough for two single-crust 9-inch pies or one double-crust pie.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together. In a measuring cup, stir 3/4 cup water with several ice cubes until it is very cold.
Cut the cold butter into cubes and toss them in the flour mixture to coat. Put the mixture in the bowl of a food processor and pulse in short bursts until the butter pieces are the size of hazelnuts.
Pulsing in 4-second bursts, slowly drizzle the ice water into the food processor through the feed tube.
As soon as the dough comes together in a ball, stop adding water. Remove the dough from the food processor and divide it in half. Flatten each piece into a disk and wrap each disk first in parchment paper and then in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 1 hour. (The dough can be kept refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the refrigerator before proceeding with your recipe.)
Baked note: The dough will feel and look sticky. or at least stickier than you might be used to. Don’t fret. Once it firms up in the fridge. it will be perfect.
Excerpted from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Copyright © 2010 by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Excerpted by permission of Stewart, Tabori & Chang, an imprint of Abrams. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.