First off, let me be clear. Pie is a thing I make once a year at best. Also let me be clear, it is my absolute FAVORITE dessert! So, I guess we should be really clear...I'm lazy. Pie is just too durned much work. Even though I love pie and have mountains of fruits that make great pies, I'm so particular about pie crust that not any old pie will do. I'd NEVER consider making a pie with store bought pie crust! Never. I'm also of the mindset (and this is where a few of you get irate) that pie crust should NEVER be made with lard. Nope, it's nasty. Lard makes a pie taste like it has meat in it. Ish. I'm a butter only girl. Let me repeat - Butter Only. When an old Finnish grandma teaches you to make pie with butter she churned herself, there is no way anything else could taste so right. Don't get me wrong, I already told you I'm lazy, so no, I don't churn the butter myself, but I should.
So, if you're lazy like me, skip the store bought pie crust and make a galette. Here's my trick to making a wonderful easy rustic pie.
First off, if you don't bake regularly, you'll want to get yourself some parchment paper. Parchment paper will help slide this galette off the baking sheet and onto a serving plate. You'll also be grateful to have a pastry brush for the egg wash.
Secondly, mix your dough in a food processor. Pulse, pulse, pulse to pull it together in seconds flat. No need to pastry knife your way through a flour haze and mess.
Okay. Let's get started. Here's the Lazy Girl method.
Ingredients for Pie Crust
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. sugar
9 Tbs. cold butter
1/4 cup ice cold water
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
How To: Slice the butter into small chunks, add flour, salt, and sugar to the butter in a food processor. Pulse until the butter is in small pieces. Add the water and vinegar and pulse a couple of times. It will look shaggy but start to form a dough. Don't over mix. The dough will hold together when you squeeze to into a ball. Form it into a flattened disk, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for an hour or more.
Ingredients for Berry Filling
4 cups fresh or frozen berries
1/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 Tbs. corn starch
1/2 lemon zest plus juice (microplane then squeeze)
Ingredients for Egg Wash
1 egg
splash milk
When you are ready to bake the galette, preheat oven to 425. Mix the berry filling. Mix the egg wash. Get a pastry brush ready.
Roll out the crust on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8 inch. Gently lift the crust with a pastry scraper. It can be loosely rolled. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
Mound berry to center then flatten and position filling to leave enough room to fold the crust over around the edges. Once dough is folded over, brush the dough with egg wash (this is what gives it that golden haze. And the vinegar helps with that too - no gray pie crust here!) and put it in the center of the oven. Bake 425 for 30 minutes, then lower temp to 350 and bake 30 more minutes.
That's it. Now you'll have a lazy girl's pie recipe to try.
I know what your're thinking, she's got these for sale in the store! NO. Sorry. I don't. Remember, I am lazy. I made one galette for a family gathering today and one only. But there is some Blueberry Jam for you in the store!
William is in the middle of a haying marathon with this little dry weather window Mother Nature has delivered. Poor guy has been putting in sun-up to sun-down hours cutting, raking, baling, and mowing - rhymes with "how" (moving small squares to the hay mow in the barn and stacking)...over and over again. The barn is getting full for all of our horse, goat and dairy customers who need chow in the winter months. If you make a trip to the farm store now you'll likely see some of the haying operation in the works.
Gardeners, if you are putting your gardens to bed and need straw, the shed behind the farm store has self-serve bales. Pay in the RED BOX in the store.
That's it for this week.
Sending love from the farm,
Sarah
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