Blueberry Pies = Summer Memories

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The dreamy images above are the work of Laura Evans. There is a lovely almost-watercolor-like quality in her photographs, the colors are beautifully muted and softened, like gorgeously aging film photographs...
You can also buy prints here, and of course she has a Flickr page.

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It seems that I have entirely too many posts that begin, end, or mention something about what I ate, or did not eat, as a child. There is something about food and childhood that is just irrevocably connected in most people's minds, including my own. We find comfort in the food we ate as in childhood, in things that are sweet or fried or bring up happy memories and make us subconsciously think of the days when our parents would always be able to protect us from the bad things in the universe.
Ever since I succeeded in making a half-decent pie, I've been longing to make a blueberry one as blueberry is the first type ever had. When I was very small, there were a few nice older women that lived about two houses away from mine. Every year, they would use their fresh blueberries to make pies. My family was the lucky recipient of at least two of those delicious pies. Back then, a homemade pie was an impossibly wonderful thing. Now, it is just a simple matter of getting my hands on some fresh in-season fruit. Considering that I go at least two farmer's markets a week, this has not been a trouble this summer. Once you have the perfect pie dough in your repertoire, making pies will be as easy as...pie.

Every single all-butter pie dough recipe I've come across has the same proportions of butter and all-purpose flour. Every one of them has introduced these magical, super-buttery proportions as being unique and fantastic. The first time I saw one myself, I fell for the hype, but I've come across at least five similar ones. I am here to tell you not to be fooled, a super-flaky all-butter pastry (versus adding shorting, or horror of all horrors LARD (because I have never eaten pork, I would never use lard)) is easy to achieve.
What makes the different versions different technique used to ensure flakiness. I would argue that you should use mine, because I found it remarkably easy, fool-proof even. There's no fancy equipment involved, no food processor needed or marble pastry board for coldness, no magically icy hands. I use this technique for everything - scones, pastry, biscuits, shortcakes...

The trick to a good pastry dough is, of course, to make sure that your butter is very cold and does not mesh completely into the flour. When you roll out the dough, you should be able to see a few tiny spots of yellow butter. I achieve this by cutting the dough into very small cubes and freezing it thoroughly.
The filling for this pie is very very easy. If you can find excellent, fresh fruit, it needs little enhancement. I based the filling on the blueberry compote I made a few weeks ago, and added a little cornstarch for thickening the mixture.

Blueberry Pie
All-Butter Pastry Dough
-2 sticks/1 cup of unsalted cold butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes and frozen for 1+ hour(s)
-2.5 cups of flour
-1 tsp salt
-1 tbsp sugar
-1/3 cup cool water
Blueberry filling
6 cups blueberries (fresh is vastly preferred, but you can use frozen if needed)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cornstarch
1/2 tbsp lemon juice (or better still 1 tbsp lemon zest)
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
Cover the surface you will be using with parchment paper (or use a pastry board, if you have one and your kitchen has enough space to store things like that)
Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt on the surface. Blend in most of the butter (reserve about 6 little cubes in the freezer) with your fingertips or a pastry blender just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps.
Gradually drizzle 1/3 cup ice water over mixture while gently mixing with a fork.
Squeeze a small handful of dough: If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, stirring until just incorporated, then test again. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one, and press into a ball. Divide in half and form into 2 disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
When you are ready to roll out the dough, make sure your countertop (or rolling surface) is very very clean, and flour lightly. Also, preheat oven to 425 degrees f. Flour the rolling pin as well, and reserve a handful of flour. Roll out one of the balls as thinly and evenly as possible. Spread three of the cold butter cubes onto one half. Fold dough in half, and roll out again, keeping the shape as circular and even in thickness as possible. Reserve in refrigerator while repeating the steps to roll out the second sheet. Make sure that the second piece is over 11 inches in diameter.
Trim the dough to fit your pie pan. I used a 9-inch pan, so I fitted the bottom circle of dough and trimmed the edges while it was in the pan. Leave the second piece on a piece of parchment paper, and chill in the refrigerator while making the pie filling.
For the filling, simply wash the blueberries, and toss with the flour, cornstarch, sugar, lemon juice/zest, vanilla, and nutmeg.
Remove the dough-covered pie pan from the refrigerator. Fill gently, so as not to break the berries, with the blueberry mixture. Remove the other piece of pastry from the refrigerator, and trim the edges so that it is a circle with a diameter of 11 inches. Score the pastry as you wish (I make 3 inch stashes that divided the pie into quarters, and then 2 inch stashes between those markings).
[At this point, you can add an egg wash to deepened the color of the crust if you'd like).
Bake at 425 degrees f for 20 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 degrees f, and bake for another 30-45 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling out of the pie and the mixture is thickened.
Chill for at least one hour prior to serving.
I served my blueberry pie with whipped creme fraiche. I've been longing to serve something with creme fraiche, cause I just love the stuff. Creme fraiche ice cream is one of my favorite flavors, so I already knew I'd like a slightly sweetened dessert-ready version of the upscale sour cream. A little tartness would be an welcome complement to the sweet fresh blueberry pie. You can even use this as a cake frosting, in place of whipped cream frosting for example.