Blueberry Pie
2 1/2 cups berries Flour 1/2 cup sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt Line a deep plate with Plain Paste, fill with berries slightly dredged with flour; sprinkle with sugar and salt, cover, and bake forty-five to fifty minutes in a moderate oven. For sweetening, some prefer to use one-third molasses, the remaining two-thirds to be sugar. Six green grapes (from which seeds have been removed) cut in small pieces much improve the flavor, particularly where huckleberries are used in place of blueberries.
A plain two-crust fruit pie with an unusually short ingredient list; the only thickener is a light dusting of flour over the berries.
- Oven temperatureA "moderate oven" is usually read as 350-375F. The recipe gives one temperature throughout; some modern bakers prefer to start a double-crust fruit pie hotter and drop the heat to set the bottom crust, but that is not what is written here.
- "Flour" with no quantityThe ingredient list gives flour without a measure, and "slightly dredged" is the only guide. For 2 1/2 cups of berries, 2 to 3 tablespoons tossed with the fruit is the usual modern range; blueberries are juicy and less will give a soupy filling.
- Deep plateThe recipe specifies only a deep plate rather than a shallow one; no diameter is given. A deep pie plate of ordinary modern size will serve, and it can be filled generously since the berries collapse in baking.
- Plain PasteThe book's basic short pastry, a flour-fat-water crust. Any standard all-butter or lard double-crust pastry stands in directly; you need enough for a bottom and a top.
- Vent the topNo steam vents are mentioned, but they matter with a wet filling. Cut slits or prick the top crust, and set the plate on a rimmed sheet to catch boil-over.
- Molasses variationThe recipe allows one-third of the sweetening to be molasses, giving a darker, slightly bitter filling. Use unsulphured molasses; blackstrap will overwhelm the fruit.
- The grapesSix seeded green grapes chopped fine would add tartness, and possibly some pectin. The recipe itself claims only that they improve the flavor, and recommends them particularly with huckleberries. A tablespoon of lemon juice would add comparable sharpness.
- Timing and donenessForty-five to fifty minutes is reasonable, but judge by the filling: it should bubble thickly through the vents. Cool at least two hours before cutting or the juices will run.
- YieldOne pie of unspecified size; on 2 1/2 cups of berries, roughly six servings.