July 16, 2015 JoAnne Strandberg

Creative Customer Inspired by Pie Gadgets

We have creative customers walk through the door every day. One customer, Ginny Schuett, was inspired by the fresh blueberries she picked by hand at Blueberry Hills in Manson, WA, and by some of the unique gadgets she discovered at Culinary Apple. Here's her story!

I was in Culinary Apple twice in the past week to buy tools for pie making, and the last time I was there Mary suggested I send photos of the pie I planned to make -- a twist on something I have done before. The pie turned out great and everyone at the “potluck dessert party” raved about it. So, since it was a new way of doing a pie, I wanted to share, especially because it relied on tools from Culinary Apple. Making a rustic pie made it really easy to cut and have people serve themselves as there is no pie pan to get in the way. My twist on the idea of a rustic pie was inspired by the lattice top pie cutter I found in your store!

Special tools used from Culinary Apple:

Pastry blender

Lattice top pie cutter

Pizza pan

Rolling pin cover

Rustic Blueberry Pie

serves 12 - 16 depending on the size of the slice

Pastry:

3 ¼ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

3 sticks (1 ½ cups) cold unsalted butter

2 tablespoons vinegar (helps make the crust tender)

Ice water to make a nice dough (8-12 tablespoons)

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut butter into tiny pieces (slice thinly, then crosswise and crosswise again until you have tiny cubes about ¼ inch). Cut butter into dry mixture with a pastry blender leaving small bits of butter mixed with flour. Add water and vinegar and mix with a fork until the dough forms a reasonably cohesive mass but still crumbly. Finish by mixing with your hands until the dough holds together. Divide dough into 2 rounds, one bigger than the other for the base of the pie (maybe about 1 ¼: ¾ for the base: top ratio of dough), wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or two.

Pie filling:

¼ cup flour

½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

4 heaping cups blueberries (used ones we picked from Blueberry Hills—absolutely delicious!)

3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Place blueberries in a large bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice, then add dry ingredients and mix all together.

Putting the pie together:

Roll out larger dough round. Roll over your rolling pin and unroll onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet or pizza pan (I used the latter to make an nice platter for serving, removing the parchment after the pie is baked—it pulled out easily!).

Rolled Pie Dough

Place blueberry mixture into center of your pastry, keeping a several inch (maybe around 3 inches) border.

Blueberry-Filling

Roll out remaining dough. Press lattice pie top cutter first into flour and then place on pastry, rolling over top with rolling pin to completely press out the tiny squares of dough. Remove cutter and cut around the perimeter of the dough to form a nice circle that will be used for the top of your pie. Roll top over rolling pin and unroll onto blueberries.

Lattice Pie Top

With your fingers, put a little water onto the edge of the bottom crust so it seals well to the top, then push up the bottom pastry over the top pastry, pleating as needed. Brush pastry with beaten egg mixed with a tablespoon of water, then sprinkle with sugar.

Lay top crust over filling Brushing Pie Crust with Water

Baking pie:

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and you can see juices bubbling from the berries. Bake an additional few minutes if needed.