Blueberry Lattice Pie
By Jane F ~ September 3rd, 2009. Filed under: Recipes.
When I was small, I’d listen for the whistle of the Helms Bakery man who sold baked goods in our neighborhood. His truck would move slowly down the street waiting for customers to come out of the house to make their selections.
My Mom and I would go out to the curb and by the time we reached the end of the driveway the French doors in back of the truck were wide open and the bakery man ready to slide out the drawers that held the pies, cakes, breads and pastries set out on doilies so we could make our selection.
Among my favorites were apple and blueberries pies – especially the pretty lattice peek-aboo pies that showed off their fillings so beautifully.
Years later, when I was writing my food processor cookbook, I recreated a lattice pie in part because of my memory and also because it had become so easy to make the crust. For me, though, lattice crusts are still the prettiest.
This weekend, our local greenmarket is having a blueberry fest. It will be the last of the season locally so it seemed like a good time to make a pie. Blueberry pie is also a great Labor Day dessert – sturdy and portable for picnics or pot luck.
Makes 8 servings
Crust
2-1/4 cups unbleached flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ cup vegetable shortening
¼ pound unsalted, chilled butter, cut in ½-inch chunks
1/3 to ½ cup ice water
Flour for work surface
Filling
2 pints fresh blueberries
¾ cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Vodka
Filling and Finishing
Flour for rolling dough
¼ cup dry plain bread crumbs
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Pinch sugar
For the dough
In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine flour, salt, shortening and butter. Pulse until solids disappear. Add 1/3-cup water and with short pulses combine until dough begins to clump (if still dry add remainder by tablespoons). Push dough together, wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour. (By hand, put flour and salt in a bowl and cut in shortening with knives or a pastry blender. Add water, mix to combine and wrap in plastic).
For filling 
Rinse blueberries and drain well. Put 1 cup berries into the food processor with the sugar and process until pureed. Dissolve cornstarch in the water and lemon juice, stir well and add to the puree. Process until thoroughly mixed, then transfer to a small saucepan. Cook blueberry puree over medium heat, stirring until thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stirring occasionally; cool to lukewarm. Put remaining blueberries in a heatproof bowl. Stir in blueberry puree and Vodka. Set aside at room temperature until ready to fill pie (do not refrigerate).
To fill the pie
Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Generously flour work surface and dough. Roll out 2/3 of the dough to a 13-inch circle. Loosen from work surface, roll up on rolling pin and carefully center, then unroll over a 9-inch pie plate. Trim overhanging dough back to 1-inch. Add breadcrumbs in an even layer and refrigerate.
For lattice strips, generously flour work surface. Roll remaining third of the dough to a 14”x 7” rectangle. Trim with ruler to 12” x 6”. Mark top and bottom of short edges every ½ inch as cutting guide. With fluted ravioli cutter or paring knife, guided by a ruler, cut 12 strips for lattice top. Ten strips will be used; there are 2 for repairs if needed.
Loosen strips from work surface with a spatula.
Remove bottom crust from refrigerator. Stir, and pour in blueberry mixture. Brush bottom pie rim with cold water. Space 5 strips evenly across the pie. Secure one end of each strip by pinching it onto the bottom crust. Put 5 strips across the pie to form a grid. Weave strips over and under, alternating, if desired.
Press down all loose ends to attach strips to bottom crust, thinning the rim slightly as you work. Trim with scissors to ½-inch beyond pie plate rim. Brush again with cold water, then gently fold overhanging dough in towards the center of the pie all around, pressing to seal the crust. Dip a fork in flour and press rim all around to crimp.
Finishing and baking
Brush lattice strips and rim with egg white. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake 1 hour 10 minutes, until golden brown. Cool to room temperature on a rack.
Notes from Moi
- When I made the pie the other day I realized I had unloaded all of my pasta-making equipment in a house sale a few years ago – including the fluted ravioli cutter I had always used to cut the strips. So my strips weren’t fancy with pinked edges – they are straight because I used a paring knife to cut them.
- Originally, I had used tapioca as a thickener for this piece. But it’s not easy to find, everyone has cornstarch in the pantry and it was easy to switch. There’s very little difference in the texture but basically a starchy binder is needed to hold the liquid part of the filling together.
- Cornstarch needs to be handled very precisely, however. First, it must be diluted in cold liquid. Let me repeat: cold first. What happens after that is that it settles down to the bottom so it also needs to be repeatedly stirred once it is diluted and quickly added to the liquid it will thicken. Whenever cornstarch is used, it’s added in exactly the same way. Arrowroot – a more delicate thickener often used for sauces and gravies – is handled exactly the same way.
- In the case of the pie, I dissolve the cornstarch in water and lemon juice. Blending it into the fruit puree makes it less inclined to sink quickly. The warm puree gets mixed into the cool berries, which help it cool down. But that cannot be done in advance since the pie filling needs to be baked quickly after the pie is filled.
- The egg white glaze gives the pie crust a nice color. To get it to go on smoothly, use a pastry brush or your finger and beat the egg white slightly with a fork before glazing – that makes it easier to use as a wash.
I’ve included some step-by-step photos in the recipe for anyone who finds the additional information helpful.
Jane F is the author of Dinner Party, James Beard Award winning cookbook.
Leave a comment – I ♥ hearing from you!
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September 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
That pie looks lovely and tasty but it seems like a lot of work. I made cinnamon muffins last night and they were easy and quick.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Looks delicious. I have fond memories of my grandmother’s pies. She loved to bake but her pies were the best. I don’t have her recipes because they weren’t written down. I’ve always wanted to make a pie but am afraid of the pastry part. I’m going to try yours!
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Lovely pie!! What a great idea to use the fresh fruits from local markets before they are gone for the season! My mouth is just watering thinking about how lovely a piece of blueberry pie would be about now!
Now, tell me about adding vodka…I have not heard of doing that before.
Have a lovely weekend!
Debbykay at Rose Cottage Gardens and Farm
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:52 pm
What a GREAT!!! pie recipe. I love blueberries. Wish I had a piece pie right now. I guess i will just have to make one soon. THANKS!!! Geri
September 4th, 2009 at 12:22 am
This looks DIVINE and I epecially like the addition of the vodka. That would kick it up for sure.
I have so many blueberries in my freezer since we have blueberry bushes at our farm in S GA. I am always looking for new blueberry recipes.
Carolyn/A Southerners Notebook
September 4th, 2009 at 1:21 am
YUM! Blueberries are my favorite!
September 4th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Oh that looks fanblueberrytastic! A touch of vanilla ice cream…and I am there.
So there.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Blue berries are so yummy! and I love that “they” tell us they are very healthy, thus MORE reason to eat tons of them… even in a pie!
Being healthy is like drinking a diet soda with a piece of cake– it zeros out the calories doncha think? lol
TTFN~~Claudia ♥ ♥
September 4th, 2009 at 11:04 am
There is something about blueberry pie that speaks of home and family and more gentle times. Calories be damned, it’s hard not to love it. I hope you are having a wonderful day.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Oh yum, that looks so good. I have some blueberry pie over here, too, but not nearly as good as what you’ve got there. Mom is a fabulous baker and uses lemon juice. I don’t think this pie’s baker has used any. It’s missing that zing. The vodka sounds like a very nice touch. … I put cognac in my cranberry sauce
Looks as if you like your crust just as I do, baked through nice and crisp. My favorite part — and so often they’re undercooked. Do you have any tips for a well-cooked and flakey base, too — to void that sog on the bottom?
Enjoy!
September 4th, 2009 at 11:47 am
I love blueberries! We used to pick them when I lived in Michigan and I made blueberry everything. I haven’t had blueberry pie in a long time. It sounds so good I know what it would taste like right now. And Labor Day is almost here, hum, maybe I will! Thanks for sharing and reminding me of this great dish. You are lucky, our melody truck only brought ice cream. have a great holiday!
September 4th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Yum! I don’t love blueberries on their own but for some reason I do like them in pie?
September 4th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Oh, my, this looks good enough to eat right off my screen!
September 4th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
So glad everyone likes the pie. Yes, lattice pies are a bit of work but for special occasions I don’t mind. And blueberries turn out to be one of the healthiest fruits — along with strawberries and pomegranate — which lessens pie-guilt, right?
I have found that both small amounts of either acid (lemon juice, vinegar etc) or alcohol (Vodka, Cognac etc.) are micro flavor boosters. One of the funniest things James Beard ever said to me in a cooking class was “you can never have too much Cognac” and I definitely agree (whether I’m cooking or drinking LOL), so Anne your cranberry sauce must be amazing.
Crisp bottom crusts are wonderful. I get that from using a glass or metal pie plate (never foil) and you can start the pie at 375 or even 400 for, say 15 minutes, then turn the oven down. That will help brown the bottom. But I use the 1/4 cup of dry plain (unflavored) breadcrumbs under the filling to absorb juices (they disappear). Another thing that can be done is painting the bottom of the raw dough with some strained apricot jam and letting that set before the breadcrumbs go in.
And yes, Linda, ice cream. mmmmm. Definitely! Happy Labor Day weekend everyone
September 4th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Ooooh yummy… will someone please pop over with one of these for moi to taste… I will have beverages ready!
Bon week-end!
Fifi
September 4th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Ummm, I love pies of any kind but really love berry pie.
Thanks so much for this recipe…all it needs is a hugh scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream !!
September 4th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
I keep getting a ‘proxy server’ block while trying to make comments! — have to go in through Firefox instead. It was intermittent before.
That’s funny, Jane, on the cognac. So it makes perfect sense why some people like my cranberry sauce so much, haha, I thought it was just because, well, they like to drink
I love the sounds of that bread crumb technique. I had heard to brush the bottom crust with egg white and precook a bit (do use glass plates) but didn’t find it worked as much as I’d hoped. Can’t recall how much of a difference it made.
Anyone else like whipped cream on their pie? I do, whether it needs it or not
September 7th, 2009 at 10:01 am
The blueberry pie is in the oven, “as we speak”. I put fresh local peaches in mine. Thanks for the good idea of long-weekend pie!
September 7th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Yes, Anne, I love freshly whipped sweet cream spiked with a bit of powdered sugar and — Cognac! Now you remind me that I should post my recipe for vanilla Cognac, another gem I learned from James Beard.
Christina, I would love to see a photo of your pie if you have a camera and feel like taking one.
September 7th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Admittedly, I’ve tried adding Amaretto! (Usually it’s just powdered sugar and vanilla, which is what I grew up with.) I think that was for strawberry shortcake — actually, the shortcake had turned into chocolate pound, lol! One of my favorite and very simple desserts is Vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries and Amaretto poured over top. Soooo good. (I’ve developed such a sweet tooth over the past ten years or so.)
September 9th, 2009 at 12:35 am
That is a beautiful piece of art!! And so great that you can eat it.
-Angela