4ouncescold, unsalted butter, in 1/2" dice(8 tablespoons/1 stick)
4tablespoonsice water
Crumble:
1/2cupall-purpose flour
1/4cupwhole spelt (or whole wheat pastry flour)
3tablespoonssugar
3tablespoonspacked light brown sugar
1/4teaspoonsalt
3ouncescold, unsalted butter, in 1/4" dice(3/4 stick / 6 tablespoon)
Filling:
6cupsof berries (see note)
zest and juice of 1 lemon
3/4cupsugar
3tablespoonstapioca flour
big pinch of salt
To serve:
Sour Cream Ice Cream (recipe below)
Sour Cream Ice Cream - Makes about 1 pint
1cupsour cream
1/3cupsugar
2/3cuphalf and half
splash vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the pie dough:
In a large bowl, stir together the flours, sugar and salt. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour, and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles sand with some pea-sized butter chunks. Drizzle the ice water over, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a rubber spatula, until the dough will hold together when you give it a squeeze. Dump the dough out onto a counter, divide it roughly into 6 portions, and fraisage by dragging a portion of dough across the counter using the heel of your hand. Scrape up the dough, gently press it into a ball and flatten into a disc. Slip it into a plastic bag, and chill for at least an hour or up to 2 days.
Remove the dough from the fridge, unwrap, and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough into a 12" circle, dusting the dough lightly with flour as needed, rotating and flipping it to prevent it from sticking. Ease the dough into a 9" pie plate, fit it into the corners, and trim it to a 1" overhang. Fold the overhang under, and flute the crust by pressing it between the thumb of one hand and the index finger and thumb of the other hand.
Chill the crust for 20 minutes, then freeze it for 20 minutes.
Position a rack in the bottom of the oven and preheat to 400º.
Place the frozen crust on a rimmed baking sheet. Line it with a piece of parchment paper, and top with pie weights, dry beans, or clean pennies. (I keep my weights in a cheesecloth bag for easy handling.)
Bake the crust for 20 minutes, then remove the weights and parchment and bake until the bottom is dry, 10 minutes more. Let cool slightly.
While the pie dough is chilling, make the crumble:
In a medium bowl, combine the flours, sugars and salt. Add the butter and rub with your fingertips until the mixture resembles damp, clumpy sand. Chill while you roll out and bake the crust.
Make the filling, and assemble and bake the pie:
Reduce the oven temperature to 375º.
In a large bowl, combine the berries, lemon juice and zest. Whisk together the sugar, tapioca flour and salt in a small bowl, then sprinkle over the berries, and fold everything gently to combine. Dump the berries and their juices into the par-baked pie crust. Remove the crumble from the fridge, and sprinkle it evenly over the top; the fruit and crumble will mound slightly in the center.
Bake the pie (on the rimmed baking sheet for sure - it will ooze a lot of juicfor about 1 hour, until the crumble and crust are golden, and the fruit is bubbling thickly.
Cool the pie completely, ideally 2 - 4 hours, to set the filling. (I know, it may be best to leave the house for that time.) For the cleanest slices, chill the pie, cut and plate the slices, then let the slices come up to room temperature before eating, about 30 minutes. Serve with sour cream ice cream, below.
The pie is best the day it is made, when crust and crumble are crisp, but it will keep in the fridge for up to several days.
Sour Cream Ice Cream
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream and sugar to combine. Whisk in the half and half and vanilla extract, stirring to dissolve the sugar. (Chill for an hour or two if you have the time; the mixture will solidify a bit.) Process in an ice cream maker. The ice cream is firm enough to scoop when freshly churned, or can be cured in the freezer for several hours, and up to a month (though it is smoothest the first couple days after being churned).
Notes
To save a bit of time, measure out the ingredients for both the crust and the crumble at the same time - most of the ingredients are the same (just keep track of which bowl is which).Blueberries and blackberries (and their relatives) hold their shapes well when baked; straws and raspberries break down more, and may make for a watery pie if used exclusively. I used approximately the following: 2 cups blueberries, 1 1/2 cups blackberries, 1 1/2 cups strawberries, 1 cup raspberries. Huckleberries would make an excellent addition, too, as would boysens and ollalies.If you can't find tapioca flour, you can whiz instant tapioca in a clean coffee grinder for about a minute until floury in texture, or use potato starch instead. Flour and cornstarch aren't ideal (says Cook's) but you can try them in a pinch.Sour Cream Ice Cream is inspired by Pure Dessert.Nutritional values are based on one of ten servings of pie.