pie - blueberry pie

By tinathorn

Ingredients

• Pie filling
• 4 cups blueberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• pastry for double crust -
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt (I usually cut this to a little under 1/2 tsp)
• 2/3 cup white shortening
• 6 to 7 Tbs water

Preparation

Step 1

Pie filling

- combine sugar and flour

- pour dry mix over blueberries and toss well

crust
- combine flour and salt

- cut in shortening until crumbly

- sprinkle water, 1 to 2 Tbs at a time, and cut into dough until the right consistency is acquired (I have used as little as 5 Tbs on a humid day)



- roll 1/2 of dough into 12" diameter circle for a 9" pie plate, and transfer to pie plate gently, being careful not to stretch crust. Trim even with outside of pie plate rim.

- pour in fruit mixture

- roll remaining 1/2 of dough and transfer onto top of pie. Trim 1/2" out from rim, fold under bottom crust and flute edges.

- make slits in top to allow steam to escape and to prevent breaking pie crust and bubbling over during baking

- lightly brush top crust with milk and sprinkle sugar over top

- bake at 375° for 40 - 50 minutes



tips:



- when I add water for crust, I pre-measure 7 Tbs into a bowl, then add 1 or 2 Tbs at a time. This way if I loose count I know I won't add too much

- when I have pie assembled, I also use a small bottle (may have been from beads) to punch 4 small circles around pie. This allows pie to steam and lessens the possibility of the filling bubbling out of the crust.



MOST IMPORTANT TIP:



- cover entire pie with foil for the 1st 30 minute of baking

- after 30 minutes, take foil off. Fold foil into 1/4's and tear the middle out (so when you open foil it should be a circle just big enough to show center of pie but still cover the crust edges resting on the rim of pie plate.) Cover edges with this foil and bake another 10 minutes.

- remove all foil and bake another 10 minutes or until bubbling at holes.