Freestyle Friday #1 - Our Family's Blueberry Pie

I thought I'd take a break from the book occasionally to post some recipes that aren't Felder's own. I'll be posting them on Fridays, from now on, but still plan on regular updates with French pastries throughout the month. First is a personal favorite of mine: blueberry pie. Growing up in the Midwest, and of French-Canadian and Scottish/Irish heritage to boot, my family had pie for dinner probably once a week. Meat pie, chicken pot pie, shepherds pie, you name it. Suffice it to say, it is now one of my standard fall back options for dinner or dessert.

However, up until this point, I had never made my own pie crust! So, I took the opportunity to rectify this handicap in time for a coworker's farewell party a few weeks ago. Rumor had it that the guest of honor was a fan of blueberry pie, so I jumped at the chance to bake one from scratch. Thankfully, both of my parents have really great fruit pie recipes, so all I needed to supply was the crust. I ended up using the same Pate Brisee from Chef Felder's plum tart, and it really turned out well (despite the fact that I forgot to blind bake the bottom crust...amateur mistake). Next time, I think I'll roll the crust a bit thinner, and make sure to blind bake before adding the fruit. There's always room for improvement!

Our Family's Blueberry Pie:

For the filling:
5 cups blueberries
1/4 cup tapioca
1 tsp corn starch
3/4 cup granulated suger
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 orange, zested

For the Pate Brisee (pie dough):
1 stick (4 oz., 125 g) unsalted butter, diced
2 cups (9 oz., 250 g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 Tbsp (1 1/2 oz., 40 g) sugar
1/2 cup (125 ml) cold water

Mix all of your filling ingredients in a bowl, and let stand for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the pie dough, divide into two discs, refrigerate for at least 2 hours, then roll out each disc to about 1/8 inch thick. Lay the bottom crust in your pie shell, prick the bottom and sides all over with a fork, and blind bake at 400 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes. Remove the bottom crust and fill with your berries. Cover with the top crust and crimp as you see fit. Use a pastry brush to cover the top with an egg wash (1 egg beaten), and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake again until the top crust is golden, about 25-30 minutes. Voila!

Pate Brisee - Tarte aux Quetsches (Plum Tart)

Well friends, after three weeks of not having heard back from the publishers, I've gotten the distinct impression that I never will. So, I've decided to forge ahead by 1) simply listing the recipe ingredients, and 2) sharing the (hopefully tasty) end results with all of you! First up is Chef Felder's Pate Brisee, which also works well as a basic pie dough. After attempting the below plum tart, I ended up using this same dough recipe for our family's blueberry pie, and it turned out pretty well. I'll definitely continue to experiment with this dough, and hopefully improve my crust-rolling technique.

Pate Brisee - Tarte aux Quetsches (Plum Tart)

Adapted from Patisserie: Mastering the Fundamentals of French Pastry
 
For the Pate Brisee (pie dough):
125 g butter, diced
250 g all-purpose flour
40 g granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
125 ml cold water

For the Filling:
Six plums (pitted and sliced into 1/16ths)
50 g plain, fine breadcrumbs
25 g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Optional:
1 cup lavender simple syrup (see Lauren Craig's blog, Perpetually Chic, for a very easy recipe)
1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest
1 tsp cornstarch

Other:
9 inch tart pan with removable bottom 

I've never made a plum tart before, but this first recipe looked absolutely divine. How can you not fall in love with a glistening, purple star burst of fruit surrounded by sweet pastry? I was sold. I did make a few modifications, however, and I was pretty happy with the result. Instead of slicing the plums in half and filling the crust with bare fruit, I cut them into thin crescents, soaked them in a bit of lavender simple syrup, lemon zest, and corn starch, and arranged them in a pinwheel. I also used a bit of the syrup left over, mixed it with a tablespoon of apricot preserves, and used that to glaze the fruit after pulling the tart from of the oven. While I didn't get as much of the lavender flavor as I was hoping for, the fruit looked beautiful, and the glaze covered any plum slices that may have dried out a bit while baking. Topped off with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar, and voila! Bon appetit!