RASPBERRY BLACKBERRY LATTICE-CRUST PIE

My husband, Todd, loves tart berries. Blackberries and raspberries picked in the wild are his favorite and store-bought the rest of the year. On yogurt, cereal, or simply by the handful, the berries brighten his every day. But with Todd traveling and a berry surplus on my hands, I decided to make this pie for his homecoming. Not too sweet, bursting with flavor and cradled in a flaky butter crust, this pie is (dare I say it?) berry, berry good.

It’s OK to vary the ratio—using more of one berry or the other is fine. To round out the filling, you’ll just add lemon, sugar, a pinch of salt, and a thickener to help the juices set up. Cornstarch is most peoples’ go-to for the thickener, but I like tapioca starch which is made from the cassava root and gives the filling a translucent sheen, compared with corn starch which has a cloudier finish.

To showcase the lovely filling, do try to make a butter crust from scratch. The flavor and texture are so much better than store bought. My method—rolling the chilled dough between sheets of plastic wrap, unsticks things. You can vary the lattice top to your liking, leaving more, or less space between the weave. And, if you’d like a little more help, visit King Arthur Baking’s lattice-top guide at kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2021/07/01/how-to-make-a-lattice-pie-crust.

1, 9-INCH DOUBLE CRUST PIE

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE FILLING

• 6 cup mixture of raspberries and blackberries rinsed and dried, leaves discarded
• 10 Tbsp tapioca starch OR 5 Tbsp corn starch
• 2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
• Zest and juice from one fresh lemon
• ¼ tsp salt

FOR THE DOUBLE CRUST

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 sticks (1 cup) very cold butter
• 4 to 5 Tbsp ice-cold milk or cream (OR evaporated milk)

FOR THE EGGWASH AND SUGAR SPRINKLE

• 1 large egg beaten with 2 tsp milk
• 1 tsp turbinado sugar

METHOD

MAKE PIE CRUSTS Place flour, salt, and sugar into a sifter; sift into a large, wide bowl. Cut butter into small pieces over flour. Using two knives, your fingertips, or a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until mixture resembles wet sand with some pea-sized bits of butter still in it. Stir milk (or cream) into the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time until the dough clumps. Spread clean work surface with two pieces of overlapping plastic wrap to make a large square. Scoop dough onto the plastic wrap. Pulling the corners of the plastic wrap square up and around the dough, gently squeeze and gather the dough into a ball. Divide ball in half. Flatten each ball into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

PREPARE FILLING While the dough chills, prepare the filling. Place the rinsed/dried/picked over berries in a large bowl. Add tapioca starch, powdered sugar, salt, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Gently stir, being careful not to crush the berries. Set aside.

ASSEMBLE PIE Set oven rack to lowest position. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place two overlapping sheets of plastic wrap on clean work surface. Remove one of the dough disks from fridge and center on the wrap. Cover dough disk with another two sheets of plastic and roll out dough between the plastic into 10-inch circle. Remove top sheets of plastic. Flip dough disk over a 9-inch pie dish. Remove remaining plastic. Ease dough into dish, leaving a 1-inch dough overhang. Place pie dish in fridge. Make another large square of plastic wrap on work surface. Roll out second disk of dough. Using a pie-wheel or sharp knife, cut dough circle into long strips about 1-inch wide. Remove pie dish from fridge. Fill dough with berry mixture. Loosely drape half of the lattice strips over the filling, top to bottom. Going the other direction, weave remaining half of the strips over and under the placed strips to make a lattice top. Fold bottom dough edge over the lattice crust edge. Roll and crimp to make a decorative rim all around. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

BAKE PIE Bake pie in lower 1/4 of oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour until the filling is bubbling thickly up through the lattice. If the top of the pie begins to brown too quickly, tent with foil. Remove pie from oven. Rest to cool a bit on a rack. Slice and serve on its own, or with a slosh of heavy cream or iced cream.