We had the fortunate gift of a huge bowl of berries after having some friends over for dinner. What do you do when life hands you a bowl of berries? Yes, you make a berry pie! It was the perfect excuse to pull out this amazing pie crust recipe from ATK and make a dessert we don't get very often because it takes a little time. But I've got all the time in the world right now with our social distancing protocol, and baking makes me (and my family) happy! My husband even thought this pie was better than the ones they serve at work from professional bakeries!
Mixed Berry Pie
Serves 8-10
For Pie Crust:
5 tablespoons ice water
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
13 oz. (2 3/4 cups) ATK Gluten-free flour blend
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
16 tablespoons butter, chopped into 1/4" squares
For Pie Filling:
5 cups fresh berries (use a mixture of strawberres, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter, chopped
For the pie crust, first put the cut butter pieces into a bowl in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Combine ice water, sour cream, and vinegar in a bowl. In a food processor or blender, combine the flour blend, sugar, salt, and xanthan gum (about 5 pulses). Retrieve butter from freezer and scatter on top of flour mixture. Pulse mixture until butter chunks are the size of peas (about 10 pulses). Pour half of the sour cream mixture over flour/butter mixture and pulse until incorporated. Pour remaining sour cream mixture over and pulse until dough just comes together. Divide the dough into two equal portions, flatten to a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Put in freezer for 15-20 minutes.
On counter, roll out one dough disk between two pieces of plastic wrap. Remove top sheet of plastic and gently invert dough over a 9-inch pie plate. Working around the dish, ease dough into plate by gently lifting the plastic wrap with one hand while pressing dough into plate bottom with the other hand. Let excess hang over rim. Completely remove plastic wrap.
For the filling, toss the fruit with the sugar and cornstarch until there is no cornstarch visible. Pour filling into the unbaked crust in pie dish. Top with 2 tablespoons butter, chopped into pieces.
Roll out second pie crust disk in the same way. Carefully invert it on top of berries, letting excess hang over. Take some kitchen shears or a knife and cut off excess dough leaving 1/2 -inch overhang . Tuck overhang underneath itself, pressing the top and bottom crusts together. Using the index finger of one hand and thumb and index finger of other hand, create fluted ridges on edge of crust. Brush top with a beaten egg white. Cut five 2-inch slits in the top crust center. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cover the pie loosely with foil and put on foil-lined baking sheet.
In a preheated 425° F oven, place pie on middle rack. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove foil and reduce heat to 375° F. Bake for another 35 minutes or until the top is browning and pie looks done. Cool on rack completely before cutting and serving.
Step-by-step tutorial:
Gather your pie crust ingredients. You will need ATK gluten-free flour blend (or GF flour of choice), xanthan gum (if your flour blend doesn't include it), sour cream, rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and 2 sticks butter. First chop your butter into 1/4-inch squares, put in a bowl and stick it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
Measure out 13 ounces ATK gluten-free flour. I love recipes that give the weights of ingredients so I know I can be more accurate. If you do not have a kitchen scale, you'll need about 2 3/4 cups GF flour.
In a food processor, combine the flour blend, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum.
Pulse the dry ingredients a few times to combine.
Retrieve the butter pieces from freezer and scatter on top of dry ingredients.
Pulse until the butter becomes pea-sized chunks.
In a bowl, whisk together 5 tablespoons ice water, 3 tablespoons sour cream, and 1 tablespoon vinegar. Pour half of the liquid mixture in and pulse a few times, then pour in the remaining liquid and pulse until it just comes together into a dough. You don't want to over work it, so do the least amount you can to keep those butter pockets intact.
Divide the dough in half for two crusts. Shape into flat disks and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour, or stick in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
After the dough is thoroughly chilled, roll one half of it between two pieces of plastic wrap. Work from the center and roll out.
Once it is big enough, peel off the top piece of plastic wrap, sit the pie dish on it upside down, then carefully invert the whole thing.
Push the crust down into the dish with one hand while you peel away the plastic with the other. Leave the overhang for now.
Prepare the filling by stirring together the 5 cups berries, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons cornstarch.
Stir gently until no white of the cornstarch remains.
Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.
Cut up the 2 tablespoons butter for the filling and drop the pieces equally over the top of the fruit.
Prepare the top crust the exact same way as the bottom crust, only carefully peel one side of plastic wrap, then invert onto top of pie. Cut off excess dough.
Pinch or using a fork press the edges together and make it look fancy! Cut 5 slits in the top, brush it with some beaten egg white, then sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Cover the entire pie loosely with foil and place on a baking sheet also covered with foil in case any fruit filling spills over.
Bake at 425° F for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and reduce heat to 375° F. Continue baking the pie for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and delicious.
Cool the pie completely on a cooling rack. This is the hardest part because it smells amazing and you love warm pie. Just trust me. After about 2 hours, it will still be just warm, but will hold together and be easier to serve.
Cut, serve, and eat!
Top your piece with whipped cream, or serve alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It doesn't get much better than this!
Recipe Source: Pie crust recipe adapted from recipe in ATK "The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook" that can be found here:
The filling recipe from Shanna's recipe box