Fall has apple pie. The holidays have pumpkin pie. Spring screams for strawberry rhubarb, and summer? It’s all about the blueberries. Nothing says summer like a fresh and flaky homemade blueberry pie. Don’t let September set in before you get around to making this sweet summer staple.
The blueberry filling is relatively easy to make. Blueberries are great because they don’t require any chopping and barely any prep work. Just take a few moments to weed out any bad blueberries, remove any stray stems, and give them a quick rinse and a good shake. You don’t even have to dry them! Toss them in sugar and flour, and you’re pretty much good-to-go.
It’s true that the pie crust takes a certain level of practice, but follow these tips and you’ll master the craft in no time:
1. Keep your ingredients super cold.
Don’t remove anything from the fridge until you are 100% ready to start. Have all of the tools and dishes you’ll need handy, so you’re not wasting any time. And if you can choose to bake on a cooler day, or at least when the sun isn’t high in the sky and beaming into your kitchen, you might have even better results.
2. Mix with your hands or pastry cutter.
You can toss your butter and flour into a food processor, but it’s not necessary. You’re less likely to overwork the dough when you’re using your hands or a pastry cutter — both of which also have other benefits. With your hands, you’ll have total control over the dough, but a pastry cutter can keep the butter colder longer (since you’re not transferring heat from your palms).
Purchase a pastry cutter here and help us bring you more great recipes!
3. Apple cider vinegar every time.
Without ACV, you would have more gluten rise and a tougher crust. Don’t skip this ingredient.
4. Double the recipe.
Doubling the recipe below will give you enough dough for two pies (top and bottom). Because if you’re going to go through all the trouble and skip store-bought crust, you might as well make two to enjoy!
Blueberry pie recipe
Makes 1 pie
Ingredients
For the crust
- 2 sticks butter, cut into 1/2″ chunks
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ~ 1/2 cup ice water
For the fresh blueberry pie filling
- 7/8 – 1 cup sugar
- 5 tbsp flour
- 4 cups blueberries, rinsed and stray stems removed
- 1 1/3 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp grated lemon rind
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Directions
For the dough
- Store butter in freezer for 30 minutes prior to starting crust recipe.
- In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, and salt and which together.
- Add butter chunks to flour mixture and work with your hands or pastry cutter until butter works down to roughly pea-sized chunks.
- In a small cup, mix vinegar and 1/2 of the ice water. Pour over flour butter mixture and work together. Add more water, 1 tbsp at a time, until dough comes together. (Dough should be moist but not wet or sticky.) Mixture should still be slightly crumbly.
- Divide dough into 2 dough balls and form into a ball. Lightly flour. and wrap well in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
For the filling
- Preheat oven 425ºF.
- In a large bowl, toss blueberries with flour, lemon rind, and lemon juice.
Combine
- Remove 1 dough ball from the fridge and flour your rolling surface and rolling pin. Roll out dough evenly, then transfer to pie pan. Gently form to pan. Poke bottom crust with fork several times on bottom and around sides to allow venting.
- Pour berries into pastry-lined pie pan. Dot with butter. Lightly moisten crust with a bit of water to help stick to second crust.
- Flour rolling surface and rolling pin and poll out second dough ball to make top crust.
- Lay top crust over fruit-filled pan.
- Trim excess crust and seal edges.
- Cover top edge of crust with foil or pie shield to prevent over-browning. Bake 35 to 45 minutes. Remove crust cover during the last 15 minutes of baking.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting and serving.
Purchase a pie crust shield from our store and help us bring you more great recipes!
Also see, Easy blueberry bars recipe.
