BLUEBERRY PIE
Ingredients
Sweet short crust( Home made or Store bought)
100 - 130 g granulated sugar, adjusted according to sweetness of berries
60 ml cornstarch
10 ml freshly grated lemon zest
pinch ground allspice
Pinch ground cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch salt
4 – 5 Cups fresh blueberries
1 egg yolk
15 ml milk
Method
1. Prepare bottom crust
Roll out half of the pie dough to fit an 23-25 cm pie dish. To prevent the dough from sticking and to ensure uniform thickness, roll from the center of the dough outwards and keep lifting up and turning the dough a quarter turn as you roll.
Check for the correct size by inverting the pie dish over the dough.
Being careful not to stretch the dough, fit into pie dish. Refrigerate while you make the pie filling.
2. Make pie filling
Stir sugar, cornstarch, lemon peel, allspice, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Add blueberries and gently toss to combine. Transfer the blueberry filling to the prepared pie crust. Refrigerate while you prepare the lattice crust.
3. Assemble and add lattice crust
Roll out the second half of dough to a similar size as before. Using different size round cutter, randomly cut out of the dough. You can keep the circles for extra decoration.
Carefully place the circle lattice on top of the blueberries. Fold edges and bottom dough underneath itself, creating a thicker border that rests on the lip of the dish. Crimp edges.
Make the egg wash by whisking egg yolk and milk together then brush over pie dough. Sprinkle tablespoon of coarse sugar over crust. Refrigerate pie 20 minutes or freeze for 5 minutes before baking.
4. Heat oven to 200 °C. Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven then place a baking sheet on rack. (The baking sheet will catch any drips from the pie while baking).
5. Bake chilled pie on hot baking sheet for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 160°C then continue to bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden and juices in the filling are bubbling eagerly. If, while baking, the crust begins to brown too much, cover with aluminum foil and continue to bake until done.
6. Cool 2 to 3 hours before cutting to allow filling to set.
Sweet Short crust
175ml butter
125ml icing sugar
500ml flour
1ml baking powder
Pinch of salt.
Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.
Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder and salt together.
Add the butter and mix with the dry ingredients to form a smooth mixture.
Press into a baking sheet, 1½cm thick.
Prod with a fork
Bake 25-30 minutes until a light brown, sandy colour.