Nothing says summer like fresh berry pie. This one is open-faced, really a crostata, or galette. Less crust means more berry flavor.
Sometimes I use a single type of berry, but I had a mix on hand so had some fun with this one. I had boysenberries and blueberries from the farmer’s market, and some small mulberries from our own weeping mulberry tree, in about equal parts. All can be found at our farmer’s markets now; use a mix of what’s available. A note about the weeping mulberries: the stems of this variety are tiny and soft and a pain to remove, so I left them on, as you’ll see in the picture. If you use large mulberries though, you’ll need to trim them off, because the berries are long and have thicker stems.
Yield: 1 - 9” open-faced pie
3 ½ c. mixed fresh blackberries or boysenberries, blueberries and mulberries, stemmed and cleaned
1/2 c. unbleached sugar or maple sugar
Pinch of sea salt
2 Tbs. arrowroot starch
Half a recipe prepared, chilled Pastry Crust, using optional sugar (recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Gently mix together the berries, sugar, salt and arrowroot starch, and set aside. After pastry crust has chilled, roll one half of the dough into a 10” circle. Flatten the other disk, wrap and freeze for your next pie adventure. Place the first circle into a deep 9” pie plate. Distribute the fruit mixture evenly on the crust, then fold the edges back over the fruit to help give it more substance. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until fruit is bubbling and crust is golden brown. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Pastry Crust (Butter) for pie
Makes 1 double crust 8-10" pie, or enough for two small crostatas
Basic pie crust. This is an essential recipe: once mastered, it will be used again and again for both sweet and savory applications. It is tender, flaky, and golden, owing much to the generous quantity of butter. You can make pie pastry with less fat, and it will taste good. But this one tastes great, has superb texture and is easy to handle. Why mess around? How often do you make pie?
I love the mix of whole-wheat pastry or spelt flour with unbleached white. Flavorful, but still delicate.
1 1/2 c. unbleached white all-purpose flour or white spelt flour
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour or whole spelt flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. maple sugar or unbleached sugar (optional)
8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very cold
1/4-1/2 c. ice water
If mixing dough by hand:
In a large bowl combine flours, salt, and sugar; mix well. Cut butter into small cubes; add to flour mixture, and cut in with a pastry cutter or two knives, until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Add 1/4 c. water, stirring mixture quickly with a fork, until a dough is formed - if more water is needed, add a little at a time, continuing to stir, until dough forms. Dough should be soft but not sticky.
Flatten dough into two 8" discs, wrap tightly in wax paper, and chill for 1 hour.
If using food processor:
Place flours, salt and sugar in bowl of food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process a few seconds, just to combine. Cut butter into small pieces and add to bowl. Process a few seconds, until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. With machine running, add ice water through the feed tube, first just 1/4 c.; if dough doesn't form into a ball, add a little more water until it does. Stop machine as soon as ball forms. Shape, wrap and
chill as above.
