Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie: The Techno Version Using The Baking with Dorie iPad App

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PIE-A-DAY #67

This recipe comes to us from Dorie Greenspan, cookbook author and the chef behind the recipes found on the upcoming “Baking With Dorie” Ipad App.

Chris Howard – Ready to bake his pie with Dorie’s iPad App

Ever since I started writing about food, which is more than 25 years ago, there’s been one thing that’s never stopped making me really, really happy: discovering that someone has had a first-time baking success following one of my recipes.  You know how happy you are when you cook or bake something and everyone around the table loves it and wants seconds?  And thirds?  That’s how happy I am when I hear from newbie bakers.

But the message I got from Chris Howard was a first even for me: He’d made his inaugural pie, he’d made it from one of my recipes, and he made it from a beta-version of my upcoming iPad App.  Chris, the programming member of CulinApp, the company that’s producing Baking with Dorie, had been living with the ‘code,’ all the internal instructions for the app, for months.  While he was building the app, we were watching all the start-to-finish videos of all the recipes as editors, not bakers.  So when Chris decided to make a pie following the video and instructions from the app, he became not just a first-time baker, but our first ‘usability’ tester, too.  Since he was grinning in every picture he sent, the conclusion was simple: He was pleased with his handiwork.

Usability is one thing, but I wanted to know about tastability.  Chris gave the pie a thumbs up – thank goodness!

This is one of my favorite summer pies.  It’s blueberries, blueberries, blueberries, with some lemon zest and juice and some flour to hold the juices almost in line.  I say ‘almost’ because one of the things I love about fruit pies is their juiciness.  I love when the juices bubble up and come through the cuts in the top crust – and, even better and prettier, when the juices spill over the pie’s edges.

You’ll get that bubble-up with this pie.  In fact, don’t take it out of the oven until you do!

Keep reading for the recipe…

DOUBLE-CRUSTED BLUEBERRY PIE

Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours (Houghton, Mifflin Harcourt) and Baking with Dorie, the upcoming iPad App (www.culinapp.com )

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Dough for a double-crust pie

2 1/2 pints blueberries
1 cup sugar, or a little more, to taste, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
Coarsely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
Squirt of lemon juice, or a little more, to taste
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs (you can use packaged unseasoned crumbs)

1 large egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash
Sugar, for dusting

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Put the berries in a large bowl and gently stir in the sugar, flour, salt, zest and juice; let sit for about 5 minutes.  Taste the filling and add more sugar and/or lemon juice, if you want.

Sprinkle an even layer of bread crumbs over the bottom crust (this help keep the bottom crust from getting soggy).  Give the filling a last stir and turn it into the crust.

Using your fingertips, moisten the rim of the bottom crust with a little cold water.  Center the top crust over the filling and gently press it against the bottom.  Seal, trim and either flute or press the edges of the crusts together.

Using a small knife, cut 4 slits in the top crust and cut a circle out of the center.  Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat – it will be your drip-catcher.  (If you have time, refrigerate the pie for about 30 minutes.  The pie can also be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.  Glaze and sugar it before you put it in the oven and add at least 15 minutes to the baking time.)

Brush the top crust with the egg wash then sprinkle the crust with a little sugar – just to give it sparkle.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake the pie for another 30 minutes or so (total baking time is about 1 hour), or until the crust is a beautiful golden brown and the filling is bubbling up through the slits.  If the crust seems to be browning too quickly, make a loose foil tent for the pie.

Transfer the pie to a rack and let it cool – and settle – for at least 30 minutes before serving.