Old-Fashioned Double-Crust Blackberry Pie

By norsegal8

This filling is also good stuffed into puff pastry and baked as a turnover.

Ingredients

• 4 cups blackberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons powdered pectin
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 recipe basic pie dough
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk

Preparation

Step 1

1. Put the blackberries, sugar, pectin and 1/2 cup cold water into a medium saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the saucepan. Add the pod to the saucepan.

2. Bring the berries to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the juices thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the berries cool for 30 minutes or so.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9-inch pie pan with the softened butter and dust it with some of the flour. Roll 2/3 of the pie dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch thickness. Fit the dough into the prepared pan and trim off any excess dough from the edges.

4. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the cooled filling and discard; pour the filling into the prepared pie shell.

5. Roll the remaining third of the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4-inch thickness and lay it over the berry filling. Crimp the edges of the dough together and make a few slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape during baking.

6. Bake the pie for 30 minutes. Beat the egg and milk together in a small bowl, then brush the top of the pie with the egg wash. Return the pie to the oven and continue to bake it until the top crust is a deep golden brown, about 15 minutes more.

7. Transfer the pie to a wire rack to let cool until it is just warm or room temperature.