Four and Twenty Black. . . Berries

      Pie is delicious.  Better than that, an outstanding pie is really simple to make.  There are some basic principals that are important to know when making your crust.  First know that it's all about the fat, specifically COLD butter.  Basically the way this works is that you are layering the butter in between the flour.  This is what causes flakiness in more things than just a crust.  It makes croissants fluffy and oh so lovely, it makes your biscuit crumble, it's what makes puff pastry puff.  If you melt or soften the butter you loose this effect because it evenly mixes in the dough and it is those thin layers that give the desired effect. 
      You can do this in a food processor, but I like to get my hands dirty, so this is the hands on method.  Start with a big bowl mixing together:
3 cups AP Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 TBS Sugar
      Then with a box grater you are going to grate into the flour
3 sticks frozen butter
      Gently mix everything together and then with your fingertips rub the pieces of butter into the flour, if it begins to feel like it's getting warm throw it in the freezer for a few minutes.  You will want it to look like wet sand, well, clumpy wet sand.  Next you will need some ice water and some kind of large flexible scraper or spatula.  Basically you are going to sprinkle some of the ice water into the flour butter mixture and then with your scraper let the dough fall onto itself.  You are going to repeat this process until most of the dough is sticking together.  This is preferable to kneading, or just stirring the water in because the kneading process will form gluten strands, which again, will effect the crumble of your crust. Next press it together into a disk and refrigerate for at least an hour.
      My pie is a mixed berry pie.  They sell big bags of the stuff at costco and they are really great to have around for lots of things like smoothies, cobbler, pie, or to mix into an ice cream.  Fresh berries are in season now too, so this is a great time to do some berry picking and really make this pie your own because you can use this recipe to make any kind of berry pie.  Mix:
1 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
Then mix this with
4 cups of berries, frozen or fresh
the zest and juice of 1 lemon
 Set aside and clean off your counter so you can roll out the dough. 
Cut your chilled dough into 1/3 and 2/3 pieces.  Roll out the larger piece so that when you set your pan on it there are 2 inches extra dough all the way around.  Fold it into quarters so that it's easy to transfer into your pie pan.  Then unfold it again and carefully lift the edges so that it falls evenly into the corners at the bottom of the pan.  Cut the edges with a pair of scissors along the outside edge of the pan. Be sure to save those cut edges, they are going back into that smaller piece of dough to be rolled out for the top of your pie
      Now if you notice I've got a little bird sticking out of my pie.  This is a pie bird.  Absolutely not necessary, but it's kind of fun, and it does serve a purpose.  The pie bird allows all the steam and juices to escape safely without injuring your pie.  So if you have one, now is the time to put it in the middle of your pan, otherwise we will vent it in another fashion later.  Have no fear!
      okie, so into your prepared pan and bottom crust goes the berry mixture.  Then you are going to dot the top of the berry mixture with
3 TBS butter
Next brush egg wash:
1 egg, beaten
1 TBS water
on the edges of the bottom crust, so that you get a good seal between the two layers.  Roll out the remainder of the crust, again remember that you want it to be bigger than the actual pie so that you have some extra room to work with.  Again fold your dough and gently set it on top of the pie (cut yourself a small hole if you have a pie bird) and open it up to cover the pie.  Now again with a pair of scissors cut around the edge, leaving about 1/2 inch from the edge.  I like tucking this under the first edge and crimping them together.  It leaves a nice piece of crust, for all of those lovers of pie crust, and it makes for a very nice seal. 
      Then cut a few slits around the top to let that steam vent. Brush the top of the pie with more egg wash, and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar, this will give your pie nice color and shine. Then once the oven is 350 degrees put it on the bottom shelf and bake for about 45 min.  You want the crust to be nice and brown and the filling to be bubbly and delicious.  Make sure the insides do boil, because you need that heat to make the pie set once it cools, otherwise you will just have juices everywhere.  This is where that whole picture of grandma with pies on the window ledge comes in, you gotta let it cool, don't be tempted to eat it too soon. If it doesn't cool, it won't set and then you will just have a mess.  Don't worry you can heat it up again later.   Serve it up for dessert with a bit of whipped cream, ice cream and a nice glass of wine or maybe a hard cider, or just some fresh lemonade.  And remember, sharing is always preferable to eating alone!