Strawberry-Blueberry Pie
I had a few friends over this weekend and one of them was quite interested in my blueberry pie that I posted. And may have texted me something to the effect of ‘I want pie.’ So I took that as a challenge to make a new fruit pie that we could drool over. It worked.
Strawberries and blueberries are both in season and in abundance this summer. So I threw those together, used the same Cooked Juice method with some tweaks, and added some citrus zest to brighten the flavor and keep it from being just super sweet. And the result was yum.
My friend actually posted about it and said “If this isn’t pure love I don’t know what is!” This is one of the reasons I bake. I love the joy that it can bring others!
Peek a Boo Crust
Keep reading for a tutorial on how to make a lattice top!
What I Use
What Do You Need?
If you are bringing this to someone else or a party, I suggest using disposable pie tins. For this pie, I served it at home and used a fun stoneware pie pan that is a little deeper than a typical pie tin.
The main tools you will need are a good saucepan, 1 to 2 quarts in size. When you are rolling out your pie crust, you also need a good rolling pin. As I mention in my pie crust recipe, I prefer a French style rolling pin without handles.
And of course, you also need pie crust! Prepare and fridge my Flaky Pie Crust at least 4 hours ahead of time. You can always use store bought…but home made is light years ahead of prepackaged.
Tips and Tricks
You may want to flip over to the Blueberry Pie recipe and read some of those Tips and Tricks as well, especially for the Cooked Juice method. I won’t repeat that here in detail so I can present some new information. The one thing to note is that this pie uses a big more cornstarch than the blueberry pie because I have found that as strawberries cook down, they produce more juice. And when I make jam, the blueberries tend to set better than the strawberries. It appears blueberries have a bit more pectin to naturally thicken the juice from my experience and some casual web research.
Beautiful fresh berries
Berries mixed with the thickened berry juice. The aroma is amazing
Similar to the Blueberry Pie, roll out half the pie crust and lay it in the bottom of the pie pan. Then add the filling. Leave the bottom pie crust hanging over the sides for now.
Could this pie filling be any more gorgeous????
When you rollout the pie crust, one useful tip I have found is flipping it over often and handling it as little as possible. Here is a little visual overview of how I roll out my crust.
Start with a well floured surface. When you start to roll, the dough will still be cold and slow to roll. So roll a little, as shown. It also helps to add some flour to the dough and the rolling pin. I usually flour my hand and wipe it on the pin.
The dough won’t look perfect and may crack as you roll. Its easy to fix during the rolling process if you feel like these pieces where it separates will go up the side of the pan.
Pick up the dough on the top (12 o’clock). Make sure the dough comes cleanly off the surface. If it is sticking, carefully pull it away or use a bench scraper to unstick. You are going to flip it over next, and give it a quarter turn.
Simply pull the pieces together to close the gaps before you roll that side. Use your fingers to press it together lightly. Then give it a quick roll right in that area.
Flip it over and to the right. So the 12 o’clock will end up at the 3 o’clock position, and the side you just rolled will be face down on the surface. Make sure its on a floured part of the surface. Re-flour the surface and the dough. Repeat!
Then roll the whole thing again as discussed above! It should hold together during the remaining rolls.
Since the berries were so pretty, I did a lattice top on this pie. Here is a step-by-step of creating the lattice.
Use a pizza cutter to cut strips of your rolled pie dough. Any size is fine, just keep them consistent.
Pull back every other strip. I started with the ones NOT on the edges.
Now pull back the strips you did not do last time. Lay a strip across.
Lift up strips that do not lay on top of the bottom crust and the egg wash.
You will have leftover strips.
Strips will end up various lengths. Don’t forget to egg wash the bottom pie crust before placing strips!
Lay a strip across, tucking it under the pulled back strips.
Put the strips back up. Continue this pattern until you reach the end.
Brush eggwash under that strip to help seal it in place.
Cut around edge of pie pan to remove excess dough.
Lay strips over the top in one direction. Leave enough space between strips for venting.
Put back the strips that were pulled back.
All strips should be hanging over the edges of the pie.
Lightly press strip into place. Continue around the pie, repeating.
Clean edges read to be crimped!
The rest is similar to any other pie. Crimp the edges in your preferred way. Then eggwash the entire top. Eggwashing the lattice top takes a little extra care to only wash the crust, and not add little dollops of egg to the filling. Then bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour at 425 F.
Crimp…
…Eggwash…
…Bake and Cool!
Once your pie is fully cooled, time to slice into it and enjoy it. You can always warm it to eat it, but making sure it is fully cooled before slicing into it will ensure it sets properly. As one commenter noted in the Blueberry Pie, when its pretty cooled, putting it in the fridge to totally set.
We DUG IN to this pie last weekend. And served it with some Andy’s Frozen Custard, which worked beautifully with the berries. So lovely!
Strawberry-Blueberry Pie
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Place the 750 g (total) of blueberries and strawberries in a large bowl.
- Add first portion of blueberries and strawberries (200g) to a saucepan and simmer on medium heat. Use a spoon to press down on the berries as they soften.
- Once the berries have cooked down, about 5-7 minutes, strain the mixture into measuring cup. Discard the skins and pieces that remain in the strainer.
- Add enough water, from the 75 g of water, to the strained berry juice to get a total of 125 g of liquid (about 1/2 cup). If the berry juice is at 1/2, no need to add water! Discard remaining water.
- Add first sugar (58 g) to the berry juice and whisk together.
- Combine the 64g of cold water and the cornstarch. Mix to make a slurry.
- Add the blueberry juice mix and cornstarch slurry to a saucepan.
- Whisk continuously over medium heat until thickened.
- Add the second sugar (138 g), lemon juice, salt, and both zests. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
- Pour the cooked juice over the blueberries and strawberries in the large bowl. Gently mix with a rubber spatula, careful not to break the berries.
- Roll out half of the prepared pie crust to 1/8" thick, and cover a pie tin with the rolled crust. Leave the edges hanging over the pie tin for now.
- Pour berry mixture carefully into pie crust - careful not to get any juice on the edge of the crust.
- Brush egg wash onto the edge of the pie crust - to help seal the top and bottom crust together.
- Roll out the other half of the pie crust to 1/8" thick, and place on the top of the pie. Gently press down to seal it to the bottom crust. **Or make a lattice top as discussed in the details above!
- Cut around the pie with kitchen shears to trim off excess pie crust.
- Use a fork to crimp the top and bottom crust together, or use a pinching crimp around. Epicurious has a good video on how to do this.
- Cut out a vent - either using a knife to cut a circle or use a smaller cookie cutter. The vent should be at least 1-2 inches in diameter. If using a lattice, no need to further vent.
- Brush the egg wash all over the top crust., careful to not overdo it so the eggwash collects and pools around the edges.
- Bake pie for 45 - 60 minutes until golden brown and inside is bubbling. Wrap foil around the edges if they brown too fast.
If you try this pie, let me know if you feel the love too!
