Fresh Blackberry Pie

This is a recipe for an improvised pie made from fresh blackberries hat I picked with some friends in a meadow near Oxford. I used the berries frozen, although I'm sure it would turn out well with fresh berries. This is a combination of several recipes - a butter crust pastry, a thick and sweet filling, and a crumbly oat topping. If I were going to make this again, I would follow Mark Bittman's recipe for pie crust.




Ingredients

Crust

8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into about 8 pieces
1 1/2 cups flour, more for rolling
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Filling

5-6 cups blackberries (depending on the size of the berry, use more for smaller berries)
1/3 to 1/2 sugar (depending on how sweet the berries are)
4 T lemon juice
1/4 flour

Topping

1/2 cup flour
2 T white sugar
2 T brown sugar
4 T butter, softened

Instructions

Crust

1) Heat oven to 400 degrees and butter a 9-by-13-inch or similar-size baking dish; set aside. In a food processor, combine 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, the salt and 2 tablespoons sugar; pulse once or twice.
2) Add butter and turn on machine; process until butter and flour are blended and mixture looks like coarse cornmeal, about 15 to 20 seconds.
3) Slowly add 1/4 cup ice water through feed tube and process until just combined.
4) Form dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic and freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (You can refrigerate dough for up to a couple of days, or freeze it, tightly wrapped, for up to a couple of weeks.)

Pie

1) For the filling: Mix berries, sugar, lemon juice, and flour together in a bowl and set aside.
Note: If you want the "perfect" pie, thicken the mixture with a combination of 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca (ground) and one peeled and grated apple. The combination will yield a filling that is neither gummy nor runny.
2) For the topping: Mix butter into flour and sugars.
3) Spread the pie dough into the butter pie dish. Fill with blackberry mixture, and sprinkle with topping. Back 20-30 minutes, until pie filling is bubbling and topping is golden brown.