Strawberry pie forever
Have I convinced you to make a pie yet? I’ve written about the joys of pie…there’s apple, blueberry, cherry, rhubarb, and now I’m pleased to introduce you to strawberry pie. No rhubarb, absolutely nothing but pure strawberry bliss. I love pie because of it’s bright, simple flavors, plus it’s never dry, it’s always just a simple, unearthly amalgamate of fruit and sweet buttery crust.
It’s only in the past 8 years that I’ve learned how to make pie. My mom rarely made pies and when she did I always understood it to be an ify proposition so I know how daunting the idea of making a pie can be…I too would never have believed that making a pie could be easy. But believe me, it is easy. I know that home cooks and food professionals alike have spent a lot of time and energy telling people that pie dough is tricky. I’m not sure why they feel that way because I’ve found that it is totally fool-proof, me being the fool and the pies I make are the proof.
Let me clarify it by saying that my pal Julia Child is the woman who cleared the cobwebs from my eyes and exposed pie making (among other cooking endeavors) for what it is, a simple and delicious baked pastry meant to be devoured immediately. Truthfully, I never got the honor to meet Julia, but I always feel that she’s by my side and I know that we would have been good friends had we the chance…she always seemed as goofy and as enthusiastic as I am. Besides what better role model is there for this life I lead?
You might say “but Vanessa, you’re pies don’t look like a typical American pie…where’s the pie plate?” You’re right, I don’t make pies in a pie dish. I personally find those pies very unsatisfying. The bottom crust is invariably soggy and the top crust is usually less than flaky, crisp, and chewy and yes I do require a tight combination of flaky, crisp, and chewy…I’m the demanding type.
I will stipulate that the typical pie-plate type pie is necessary to contain a pecan pie or a sweet coconut cream pie…and I do those but let’s face it, this is fruit pie season. Blueberries will start showing up this week and though we here in Wisconsin may not get local tart cherries like Montmorency we can source them from out of state. So I suggest you get with it and make a pie. It really isn’t hard, and once you get over your pie phobia you’ll be sitting pretty.
Strawberry Pie
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Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the standard blade. Pulse a few times to mix. Use cold butter straight out of the refrigerator. Cut it into chunks and dump it into the food processor and pulse 4 or 5 times until the butter is chopped into the flour but is still in visible chunks. Combine the buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream with the water and dribble it into the bowl of the food processor as you pulse. You may or may not need all. Once the dough starts to clump up stop adding the liquid and stop pulsing. Turn the dough out onto the counter and gently combine the dough into a disc shape. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of three hours or even better, overnight.
After 3 hours the dough should be well chilled. Dust the counter top with a small amount of flour. Rub some flour on both sides of the dough disc and place it on the counter. Using a rolling pin begin to roll out the dough into a circle that is about 15 inches in diameter. Roll up the center, roll to the left and right and then move the dough a quarter turn to the left or right and repeat until the circle is complete. I’ve found a french rolling pin is the best for creating a circle as it is tapered at both ends and this somehow aids in creating a circle. You may need to flip the circle over a few times to keep it from sticking to the counter. Dust it with flour of necessary. Once you’ve got a rough circle about 15 inches in diameter then fold it in half and move the dough to a bake sheet lined with parchment. Unfold the dough and arrange it so it is centered on the sheet.
Filling
2 pints of strawberries.
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
Remove the leafy heads from the strawberries and if they are small enough you won’t have to cut them. However if they are larger than the end of your thumb you might want to cut them in half. Add the sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch and stir it all up. Spoon the filling into the center of the crust leaving about three inches of a crust border all the way around. . Don’t feel compelled to include all the juice in the bottom of the bowl as strawberry pie is already incredibly juicy.
Fold the crust borders over onto the pie, brush them with cold water and sprinkle sugar on to little cover the crust and then slip it into a 375°F oven and bake it for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then serve. There’s no law against adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the side…it makes an already perfect pie practically heavenly.
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24 Responses to “Strawberry pie forever”
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Well I bet that doesn’t suck. I’ve never made a free-form pie — do you roll it out thicker than you would for a plate?
I don’t know how you feel about pie-making shortcuts, but rolling out the pastry on wax paper completely changed my pie-making. I don’t worry for a second about it sticking to the counter. And transferring to the plate, which used to be terrifying, is easy as [something that is very easy].
I seem to remember seeing an Alton Brown technique where he does all the mixing and rolling inside a gallon ziplock bag, not even touching it. That seems a little soulless to me, but it’s totally arbitrary for me to draw that line at wax paper.
Enjoy your blog…loved the post about Nilda’s Chocolates; they are little disks of heaven.
Lots of Montmorencys in my backyard and many more in Door County. Look for them at the Madison Farmer’s Market a week from Saturday. You know you’ll be glad you did.
this is amazing! i just came across your blog and i have added it to my bookmarks. i love free-form pies…the rustic-iness, the juices seeping onto the baking sheet, yum.
pie crust, for me, seems only to be a challenge when i come at it with an already defeated attitude. i must send the pie crust bad vibes and it must rebel against me. otherwise, i always feel pretty satisfied making pie crust myself.
That looks absolutely divine Vanessa! Amazing. Boy, do I want some :)
I always struggle with a “plate” pie. I much prefer the look of a freeform pie. I’ve made them before but always called them galettes. Maybe I’m not so bad at making pies after all. :)
Thanks for posting this recipe today! I’d never made a pie before, and I didn’t have any strawberries, but I needed something to do with the almost two quarts of cherries about to go bad in my refrigerator, and you made this sound so easy that I thought I’d give it a try. And, indeed, the most difficult part of the whole process was pitting the cherries. I cut back on the sugar to compensate for the extra sweetness in the cherries, and the results were pretty tasty. Dessert recipes usually scare me away, and it’s nice to know that a fresh fruit dessert can be so easy.
OH, what loveliness! Vanessa, you’ve done it again.
You might even convince me to be a pie convert… especially since I know firsthand how absolutely wonderful those local Wisconsin strawberries are right now. And we’re not so far from Michigan blueberries…
If that photo won’t convince someone to make a pie, nothing will! Your pie really looks amazingly delicious!
That looks really good!
I love the idea of a strawberry only pie. I’m not a rhubarb fan so this is a perfect way for me to use up all my strawberries!
Looks perfectly baked. The strawberries still look fresh even after baking.
Oh yes, please.
Nothing in that recipe I wouldn’t absolutely love.
I made this pie last night, and it was absolutely delicious.
This looks great - I just made an apple version of a non-pie plate pie/tart and it was delicious. It was made even better by the fact that no crimping of the crust was required!
There is nothing more beautiful than a perfectly made galette. Bravo. Simple and delicious with a spoon of ice cream.
I think that’s the most delicious strawberry pie I’ve ever seen. Yay for summer and the fruit it yields!
The best part of those pictures is where the filling has leaked just a bit. Yum.
[...] Ontario and my family has been consuming vast quantities. I happened to see a recipe for Strawberry pie (although it’s actually a galette) and thought it would be a nice use of some [...]
That is so beautiful! What a great recipe!
Just wanted to share with everyone that I made this with Raspberries and it was just as excellent!
Picked blueberries this a.m…..looks lie the best pie recipe ever!
This pie could probably be eaten in a million little pieces.
Hello Vanesa, i was longing to make this pie but i have a small problem, i’m in argentina and some of the ingredients you use, we do not have here, such as cornmeal and cornstarch.
Do you know if they can be replaced with something else?
Thank you !
Victoria, Hmmm, I haven’t a clue. You could omit the cornstarch because it’s only purpose is to thicken the fruit juices just a bit…my opinion is is helps a little but fruit juices still make a run for it. Corn meal…you must have it under another name but I’ve no idea what it is. Does anyone else have an idea?
Corn meal — masa maybe? Polenta? Polenta is closer.
You can substitue a 1tbs blonde roux for the cornstarch or use an equal amount of arrowroot. You could also use pectin, but I don’t know how much pectin it would be.