Strawberry pie

I was at whole foods yesterday and a box of gorgeous strawberries just called out to me. I knew i had to take them home and make something special with them :) . I am a pastry chef who absolutely runs away from the idea of making any kind of berry pie . Reason, i have three good ones: soggy crust, runny filling and under baked crust :(
Oh wait i have one more : The lattice that just wont stay in place .
But looking at those strawberries sitting on my counter top, all i could think of was strawberry pie.
I took a deep breath in.. Chanted OM three time and went for it :)
To my surprise it actually wasn't as bad as i thought its going to be . The kitchen wasn't a big mess at the end of it all and neither was i . And the pie : Dare i say it myself , PERFECTION.
So don't think too much just go for it , I promise you will love the end result.

Pie crust

• 2 1/2 cup of white unbleached whole wheat pastry flour
  
• 1 1/2 cup of cubed and chilled butter ( to make it vegan substitute with Earth Balance)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 1/4 cup ice cold water

Note : For a good mealy crust,its important to use cold cold butter and ice cold water .
Above quantities are for 9" medium pie shell .

Method

• In a food processor,combine flour, salt and sugar . Add the cold cubed butter. Use pulses to break the butter into chickpea size pieces.
• Do not over work the butter. It should hold its shape and not be disintegrated into the flour mixture .
• Continue to pulse and slowly add the ice water a tablespoon at a time until the butter is now broken down to pea size pieces and all of the water in incorporated.
  
• You do not want the dough to be too wet. It should be easy to handle .
  
• Also quantity of water will depend on the type of the flour used and its moisture content.
  
• Therefore don't rush into adding all of the water at one time. You may not even have to use all of the water .
• The dough should not be sticky, but should hold together and not fall apart .
• Transfer the dough from the machine to a clean counter top and knead the dough to make sure its smooth .
• However make sure not to over work the dough. Divide the dough into two part . One can be slightly bigger than the other .
• The bigger one is for the bottom and the smaller one for the lattice on the top .
  
• Wrap them up and stick them in the fridge for 1 hrs .

While your dough is chilling you can start working on the filling .

Strawberry filling

• 4 1/2 cups of sliced fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup raw cane sugar ( Add more sugar to taste if you like your pie sweeter)
• juice of 1/2 lime
  
• 1/2 tsp zest of lime zest
• 2 Tbs water
• 3 Tbs corn starch
  
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon ( or not .. i happen to love the pairing of strawberries and cinnamon )
  

Method

• Place all the strawberries in a large pot over medium heat. Add sugar,lime juice and zest .
  
• Stir gently to minimize the strawberries .
• In a small bowl mix the cornstarch into the water .
• when the strawberry mixture begins to bubble, slowly add the cornstarch water to the pot.
• Simmer for another few minutes till the filling looks thick .
• It should coat back of a spoon at this stage
  
• Turn the heat off and let it cool
  

Back to the crust

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove the crust from the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes .
  
• Dust the clean counter top with some flour to ensure that the crust will not stick to the surface while rolling .
  
• Dust your rolling pin with flour and roll the larger ball into a tortilla.
  
• The rolled out tortilla should be wider than pie shell .
• Since we are using a 9" pie shell , the rolled out tortilla should be about 11' in diameter .
  
• This will give enough room for the tortilla to cover the pie shell and spill over the border of the shell.
  
• When rolling out the dough the edges might crack a little, don't worry about it .
  
• Very gently pick up the rolled out tortilla and place it over the pie shell .
• Gently pressing down the dough close the shell ,cover the pie shell with the dough .
• Trim the excess dough on the side.
• Using a fork, poke some holes in your pie crust to prevent the crust from rising and bubbling up .
  
• Now cut square out of parchment paper that is bigger than the size of the pie shell
  
• Place the parchment paper on the top of the crust .
• To weigh down the parchment paper fill the pie shell covered with parchment with some beans .
• Bean will ensure that parchment paper stays in place and does not fly around in the oven.
• Place the pie shell in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
• Pull out the pie shell from the oven and remove the parchment filled with beans .
• Stick the shell back in the oven again, and bake it for another 5 minutes.
• This process is called blind baking , its helps the crust from turning soggy.
  
• The crust should have golden edges and the base of the crust should looked cooked .
• The color you are looking for on the crust is light golden brown.
• Pull out the crust from the oven and let it cool.

Ones the filling and the blind baked crust have cooled down to room temperature, pour the filling in the crust. Do it only after the lattice strips are ready to go..

Working with Lattice top

• Pull out the smaller pie dough ball from the fridge.
• Let it rest for 3- 4 minutes at room temperature.
• Roll out the dough into a tortilla like we did with the first ball.
  
• With a help of a sharp knife cut even strips of the dough .
  
• I used a clean yard stick to keep my lines straight .
• Make sure the strips are cut even to ensure even baking in the oven .
• Place the strips back in the fridge to cool down .

In the mean time fill your pie shell with the filling :)

• Pull out the cut strips from the fridge.
• Arrange the strips vertically all across the pie shell leaving 1/2 " in between two strips.
  
• At this point they would look like bars in a jail.
• And now weave in the horizontal strips to make a basket weave .
  
• Ones your lattice work is done fuse the end of the strips to the bottom crust.
  

Look at the picture below to get a better understanding .

• Finally brush the crust with some almond milk/ regular milk and sprinkle some sugar on top :)
• Bake for 45 to 50 minutes ( 350 degrees F) till the crust in nice golden brown color .
• Remove the pie and let it rest before you cut into it .
• If you rush into cutting the pie the juices might have to set back and up and you will have runny pie :(

Serve it will vanilla ice cream !! enjoy :)