Let's review for those of you who are just joining: One of our regular patrons confided in us that he yearns to travel the length and breadth of the United States, stopping at diners along the way to indulge in nothing but pie. What a fantastic journey that would be! But we reasoned we could accomplish that very thing right here in South Grafton. This is a tour of Americas favourite food: pie.

Red, White, and Blueberry Pie
Good Independence Day to You!

The Fourth of July was American Independence Day, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate than by feasting for the next two weeks on blueberry pie!

One of the few foods that is truly blue, blueberries have been consumed for over 15,000 years. They have amazing health benefits. The most likely origin of blueberries is North America. The Native Americans tended to and harvested the berries they called "star fruit”. Letters from Plymouth Pilgrim colonists contain recipes for Sautauthig, (pronounced saw-taw-teeg) a Native American pudding made with dried blueberries. It is certain that blueberries were present during the original Thanksgiving meal.

A very viable berry is the blueberry. They taste great whether fresh, frozen, tinned, or dried. The first canned blueberries were provided to the soldiers of the Civil War to prevent scurvy. When they developed a fondness for the taste it led to imaginative applications; and blueberry pie was one of them.

The Practical Cook Book, by Mrs. Bliss of Boston, printed in Philadelphia in 1850 may have contained the first blueberry pie recipe. Wild blueberries are a product of the State of Maine and blueberry pie is their official dessert. (Does it still seem strange that states claim food as emblems?)

We will be using cultivated blueberries for our pie. We’ll start with Martha Stewart’s blueberry pie recipe which calls for almost a whole kilo of blueberries and a minimal amount of sugar. We’re using a lattice top because it’s the best way to allow steam to escape and to see when the pie is done.

You can find posts of our recipe progress, "tips and secrets” and other updates on our FaceBook page @coldbrewcafeaustralia. Search #greatamericanpietour to find our past posts and pies on the Great American Pie Tour and look for the final Blueberry Pie recipe in the next edition of the Valley Messenger.

---

Blueberry Pie Recipe

Simplicity itself, Blueberry Pie is best when kept simple; however, if the blueberries are a little flavourless try adding a dash of cinnamon or Chinese 5 spice and lemon zest. That will help to bring out the blueberry flavour. You may need to adjust the sugar as well. This recipe uses a minimum amount.

Paté Brisee:

This recipe makes 2 crusts for 9” pie.
Split dough into two crusts by approximately 340g per crust.

Weigh, cut into ½” pieces and freeze a minimum of 15 minutes (but longer is better)
250g Butter

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with blades pulse 10 times

340g AP Flour
1 t Salt
1 t Sugar

Add Frozen butter pulse 12 more times
Add ½ C very cold water pulse 12 more times.

Butter should be small pea size.
Dump crust mix into a bowl to finish flour distribution.

Compact and divide dough into two disks and refrigerate for minimum 1 hour.

For filling:

Macerate in a bowl
600 g blueberries, fresh or frozen
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn flour
1-2 tablespoons butter
⅛ tea cinnamon (optional)
1 tea lemon zest (optional)

Roll out dough to ⅛” thick and place in pie pan, refrigerate while rolling out top crust to ⅛” thick. Cut vents so that one is in the middle or cut in strips to basket weave.

Fill bottom crust with blueberry filling. Brush egg yolk with a bit of water (glue) on the dough edge before placing top crust. This helps with leakage but it always leaks. Cut dough to ¼ inch away from edge, roll edge and crimp.

Bake 180 ℃ for 1 hour and possibly up to 20 minutes more. Pie is done when filling is bubbling in the middle. Let set for at least 2 hours at room temperature. Then place in refrigerator for 3 hours. This pie is always better the next day.

Enjoy!

If you are looking for a payment system, we use Square.
Follow the link to get $1000 off fees. Square Affilate Link