Fresh Strawberry Pie
Fresh Strawberry Pie
Summer-ripened strawberries are the star of the show in this simple, mouthwatering pie.
Equipment
- 9-inch Pie Plate
- Rolling Pin
- Parchment paper
- Dried rice or beans, at least 6 cups
- Immersion Blender or Hand Mixer or Stand Mixer
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
- Kitchen Scale (optional but HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR ALL YOUR BAKING!)
Ingredients
Butter Pie Crust
- 4 oz unsalted butter, cold (1 stick or 8 Tbsp)
- 6.5 oz all-purpose flour (1 1/3 cups)
- ¼ tsp table salt
- ⅛ tsp baking powder
- 2½-3½ Tbsp ice water
- 1 ½ tsp cider vinegar (white vinegar also works)
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten (for use after the crust has baked)
Strawberry Filling
- 2½ lbs strawberries, hulled (about 1 Kilogram or 8-10 cups)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (65 grams)
- 3 Tbsp strawberry jam (sugar free is fine)
- ¼ cup cornstarch (30 grams)
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Cream Topping
- 2 cups heavy cream, cold (1 pint)
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Pie Dough
- Working quickly, cut the stick of cold butter in half long-wise and then cut the 2 halves into 8 even pieces. You should have 16 pieces of butter. Wrap half the butter in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator. Wrap the other half of butter and put it in the freezer. Allow the butter to chill/freeze for at least 30 minutes.
- Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder, put in a plastic bag, and also put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. (Cold ingredients equal flakier pie crust!)
- Fill a 1 cup liquid measuring cup with ice and add water to fill to the top. Put back in refrigerator as well.
- Add flour mixture and the refrigerated butter to the bowl of the food processor and blitz for 5-second bursts until the mixture is evenly course and crumbly. Add the frozen butter and blitz for 2-second bursts until the frozen butter is the size of peas. Add 2 ½ Tbsp of the ice water and the vinegar and blitz for 6 1-second bursts. Stop and pinch the dough between your fingers. If it doesn't hold together, add another ½ Tbsp of water, pulse 3 times, and do the pinch test again. Repeat until the dough holds together when pinched.
- Working quickly (you want the butter to stay cold), transfer the crumbly dough into a gallon-size plastic bag. Keeping the bag open, carefully knead the dough from the outside just until it holds together. (This method keeps your hands from warming the dough too much.) Shape the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
- *If you don't have a food processor, you can make the crust by hand using a pastry cutter and repeating all the steps. I prefer the food processor method because it's faster and thus, easier to keep the butter cold, yielding a flakier pie crust.
Bake the Pie Crust
- On a lightly floured surface, with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out your chilled pie dough into a rough circle, at least 11 inches in diameter. You may want to flip the dough once or twice to ensure it isn't sticking. I recommend using one of these methods to transfer the rolled dough to your pie plate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra5qTmIb2e0 Carefully press the dough into the corners of the pie plate and finish the edges. Some great ideas on how to finish your pie crust edge here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKDFrXhzTpc For best results, place your pie shell in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking. This will ensure the butter is extra cold and help to keep the crust from shrinking to much.
- Once the pie shell is in the freezer, move your oven rack to the lowest rung and preheat the oven to 425°F. You want to bake the crust close to the oven floor to get it super browned and crispy!
- To keep the crust from puffing too much, you will need to prepare it for a "blind bake." Lay a large piece of parchment paper over the frozen, unbaked pie shell. Carefully fill the shell with at least 6 cups of dried rice or beans, making sure to push the rice/beans up the sides of the pie plate. You can reuse the rice/beans many times for this purpose.
- Put the pie shell in the oven and immediately lower the temperature from 425°F to 400°F. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove from oven and carefully lift out the parchment paper and rice/beans. Prick the bottom of the crust with fork tines many times to allow steam to escape and to keep the crust from puffing further. Return the crust--without the parchment paper and rice/beans--to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes, to allow the bottom to brown completely. If another 10 minutes doesn't do the trick, continue baking in 2 minute increments until you're satisfied with the color and crispiness.
- Once the pie shell is done, while still hot, take a pastry brush and lightly brush the bottom and sides of the crust with a thin layer of egg white. Return the crust to the oven for one minute to cook the egg white. (This is an optional step but it's a great way to keep the juicy filling from making your crust soggy.) Allow crust to cool completely. Do not refrigerate.
Make the Filling
- Cut the berries into halves or quarter, depending on size. Ultimately, you want large chunks of berries that are roughly the same size.
- Add 2 cups of the berries to a 2-quart saucepan and mash them completely. You can also use the immersion blender for this. Mix the sugar together with the cornstarch, then add to the berries along with the salt, the jam, and 1 Tbsp of water.
- Whisking constantly, bring the mixture to a boil and allow to cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and fold the cooked mixture into the fresh berries along with the lemon juice. Carefully spoon into the cooled pie crust and use your fingers to gently distribute the berries, making sure there are no holes. I recommend mounding the berries in the middle, simply because it looks pretty. Cover and chill the pie in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight so the filling can set and the pie will slice nicely.
Whipped Cream Topping
- Right before serving, using the immersion blender, hand mixer, or stand mixer, whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla to soft peaks. Pile the whip cream on top of the pie, slice, and serve!
In between Freshman and Sophomore year, I worked the summer at a little bakery called Pat’s Cookie Jar. Great name, right? Sadly, Pat’s is long gone but the sense memory of those luscious baked goods stays with me all these years later. Nothing fancy, really. Just down home sweets baked with care. Warm coconut macaroons dripping with bittersweet chocolate glaze…buttery strudel studded with thick clots of cherry and apricot and lemon filling…an oh so rich and creamy peanut butter pie that I still don’t understand but am determined to recreate some day…and a fresh strawberry pie that I dream about every time summer rolls around.
It’s a simple recipe, folks. A standard butter pie crust baked to deep golden brown and filled with the juiciest berries, just barely held together with a jammy glaze. A few billows of gently sweetened whipped cream on top and you’re done.
This is a picnic pie, a celebration pie, a summer night on the porch/stoop/roof pie, a—dare I say it?—breakfast pie!
It was breakfast in my house, that’s for sure. Usually, I try to foist the results of my baking projects on willing friends and family but not this time. I’m pretty sure we polished it off in 2 days. Hard to feel too guilty, it’s a low sugar recipe and mostly fruit after all, so, I mean, pie for breakfast once or twice a year, that’s just a life well lived, no?
A few notes for success:
- Supermarket strawberries are persona non grata when it comes to this pie. Too often flavorless and watery, they can’t be trusted. Spring for the farmers market berries if you can get them. I spent $15 to fill this pie and I DO NOT REGRET IT.
- Take the time to seal the pie crust with egg white wash, as noted in the recipe. The textural contrast of crispy crust with juicy berry is just too wonderful to miss. And since the pie needs ample time to chill, you run the risk of those berries making the crust very soggy if not protected. Trust me, the 5 extra minutes are worth it.
- Take care when whipping the cream topping. Stop whipping a bit before you think it is done and use a spatula to check the texture. Then whip in 10 second increments at medium speed and watch it carefully. I absolutely did NOT take care when I made this cream and, as you can see from the photos, it is grainy and starting to separate a bit. This obviously did not stop me from using it, it was still workable, and honestly, I didn’t want to go to the market for more cream. Pie, after all, isn’t meant to be perfect. It’s just meant to be delicious.
