Rustic Strawberry Pie

Fourth of July is right away the corner and I have some wonderful desserts to share with you!  Many of you have parties and barbecues this weekend so I wanted to share a few desserts in case you haven’t decided on one to make.  And I also wanted to get you in the festive spirit :).  

The first dessert I have for you is  Rustic Strawberry Pie.  I say "Rustic" because this strawberry pie is different than the usual.  The main difference is that the dough is baked in the bottom of a pie pan so it comes out shorter and flatter.  Then the crust is topped with fresh strawberries and nothing else.  No jam, no whipped cream, no cream, no custard – just strawberries.  Doing this really highlights the fresh and natural taste of the strawberries.  Strawberries are in season now, so they have the perfect sweet taste.  There is no need to add anything else – the strawberries taste great on their own.  

 I used a different pie dough than I normally use recipe for this pie.  Instead of my go-to recipe, I used a recipe I got from Baking Illustrated.  The only difference in this recipe is that it includes shortening in addition to the butter.  This combination of shortening and butter produces a crust that is both flaky and tender.  The flakiness comes from the butter and the tenderness comes from the shortening.  An all butter crust (which is what I normally make) is almost exactly the same in texture just slightly less tender, but just as good! 

With this pie having only 2 main components, pie crust and strawberries, both have to be very good.  As long as the pie crust is buttery and flaky, you’re good to go!  And just make sure that you have sweet and ripe strawberries.  If your strawberries aren’t ripe then they will taste bitter and not sweet and not compliment the pie crust. 

 I added a scoop of ice cream with each piece to add a creamy texture.  And who doesn’t like ice cream with pie?!  You can always add a dollop of whipped cream as well.  Or just eat it plain.  It's good either way!  Enjoy :)!

 

Rustic Strawberry Pie

For Printable Recipe, Click here!

Makes: 1 8-inch Pie

For the Pie Dough

1 ¼ cup All Purpose Flour

½ tsp. Salt

1 tbsp. Sugar

¼ cup Vegetable Shortening, Cold

6 tbsp. Unsalted Butter, Cold

3-4 tbsp. Ice Water

About 10 Fresh Strawberries for the topping, Sliced

Ice Cream (optional)

To make the crust, start by cutting the butter and shortening into ¼ inch squares.  Place in a small bowl and put in the freezer until needed.

In a large food processor, combine the flour, salt, and sugar.  (If you don’t have a large enough food processor, you can cut the recipe in half and work with half at a time). Pulse just to combine.  Add in the shortening and pulse 6-8 times until the shortening is crumbly.  Then add in the butter and pulse another 6-8 times until the butter pieces are the size of small peas and the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Slowly add in the very cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time.  Stop adding water when the mixture comes together and is in wet clumps.  Be sure to not add too much water – you don’t want to dough to be extremely wet. 

Pour out all the dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Form the dough into a disc and flour all sides of the dough.  Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.

When the dough is done chilling, take the disc out and place it on a lightly floured surface.  Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is about 10 inches in diameter.  Make sure that the surface is thoroughly floured the whole time, as you don’t want the dough to stick.  Transfer the rolled out the dough to the pie pan – the easiest way to do this is roll the dough around the rolling pin and slowly unroll it onto the pie pan.  Press the dough into the bottom of the pie pan.  Only have it come up slightly onto the sides of the pan.    Place the pie pan in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to make sure the dough is chilled and not soft. 

Bake the dough for about 45-55 minutes, until it golden brown in color.  Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, and then transfer to a cake stand or plate.  Arrange the strawberries on top.  Serve with ice cream.  Enjoy :)!

Dough recipe from Baking Illsutrated.