This weekend is sandwiched between two holidays: Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day. Last night, we made spontaneous dinner plans with our good friends, The Brown Family. We decided that the only way to celebrate properly would be to have sandwiches and pie for dinner. C made Ruebens with leftover corned beef from our premature St. Patty's Day dinner and I made a strawberry pie. I hemmed and hawed over what kind of strawberry pie to make. My go-tos are strawberry rhubarb sour cream crumb pie and strawberry balsamic galettes, so I decided on a plain and simple strawberry pie. To sweeten the pie, I chose to use apricot jam (because we have a lot of it and I'm sick of looking at it in the fridge).
Objective
To make a very simple strawberry pie.
Materials
Crust:
2 oz. rye flour
2 oz. whole wheat pastry flour
4.5 oz. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
pinch salt
a couple shakes of cinnamon
12 tbsp. butter, cold and cut into small cubes
4 oz. ice cold water
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Filling:
2 lbs. fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and sliced
2 tbsp. granulated white sugar
1/4 cup apricot jam
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
Decoration:
cream
coarse sugar
Methods
1. To make the crust: combine the flours, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the cubes of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the apple cider vinegar to the ice cold water. Continuing to pulse the food processor, slowly pour the water through the feed tube. Only add as much water as it takes to bring the dough together. Pour the dough out of the food processor onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap to squeeze the dough together into a ball. Flatten and chill (1 hr in the fridge or about 15 minutes in the freezer).
2. While the dough is chilling, slice the strawberries and toss them in a medium-sized bowl with the granulated sugar. Set aside to macerate.
3. Remove your dough from the fridge/freezer. Gently roll the dough out to a small rectangle. Fold in thirds, then gently roll the dough back to a small rectangle. Fold again. Cut the dough approximately in half with one half being a little bigger than the other. Flatten into 1/2"-1" thick circles. Chill again until the butter is cold (30 minutes should be sufficient).
4. In a small saucepan, combine the apricot jam and the juice from the macerated strawberries (a strainer is the easiest way to collect the juices). Stir and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let it boil for a few minutes until it begins to thicken. Pour over the sliced strawberries. Add 2 tbsp. flour and stir to combine. Set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 375º.
6. Remove your dough from the fridge. Roll the bigger piece to a circle that fits in a 9" pie plate with 1/2" overhang. Gently lay the dough in the pie plate. Fold the overhang under the dough to create a lip around the edge of the pie plate. Using a fork, prick the sides and the bottom of the pie crust. Pour the strawberry concoction, juices and all, into the unbaked crust.
7. Roll out the remaining piece of dough to a circle that lays flat on top of the filling and meets the edge of the crust. Pinch the edges of the crust into whatever pattern you prefer (click here for ideas), being sure to seal the top and bottom crust together. Use a sharp knife to slice air vents in the top crust (be creative: if it's Pi Day, maybe write "Happy 3.14159 Day" or simply "π"). Brush the pie with cream and sprinkle it with sugar.
8. Before placing the pie in the oven, set it on a large baking sheet in case the juices bubbles over. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the juices are bubbling and the crust is golden brown. (If it's getting late and you start to get impatient, you can crank the heat up to 400º to help the pie along.)
9. Let the pie cool for an hour or two to allow the filling to firm up (or slice into it hot and flood the bottom of your pie plate with juicy filling. Slice and serve with freshly whipped cream.
Results
A happy Pi Day, indeed. Delicious crust, slightly tart filling easily sweetened with a dollop of whipped cream.
Discussion and Future Directions
To be totally honest, I think strawberry pie and berry pies in general are kind of strange. Growing up, we only had pie for holidays. Cream pies and pumpkin pies were standard. We never had a fruit pie (unless you count coconut cream). I was 22 when I had my first berry pie. It was a delicious homemade raspberry pie. I got the "recipe" (if you can call a list of ingredients with amounts like "a few cups of berries" and "as much sugar as it takes" a recipe) but I never made it.
So, if I think berry pies are strange, why did I make one for Pi Day? Because I was being irrational. Luckily, it turned out beautifully. It even started an intellectual debate about how to calculate the volume of a pie. People were throwing around ideas like "calculate the volume of a cone, then subtract the volume of the small cone that is taller than the pie." I offered calculus. Use integrals and the disc method and rotation around an axis. Needless to say, we decided the pie was better eaten than measured, so we left the math for another day. Happy (belated) Pi Day!
Supplementary Materials
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