Mulberry Pie

Mulberries are one of my favorite fruits found on local trees (alongside pawpaws!) I grew up with a few of them in the yard. I would always pick a few as I passed under them on the riding lawn mower! I had a lot of time to invent little games to keep the 4+ hour mowing job that that was semi-interesting for myself.

Luckily, my neighbor here in Marlborough (East Waldo) has a  mulberry tree on our shared property line! So in the summer when the berries are ripe and dropping, I lay out a tarp under the tree and collect only the perfectly black, ripe ones in the morning and toss the rest to reset the tarp. Although you do not have to, I like to remove the green stems by pinching them off between my fingernails. It's great to use the berries fresh, but I get a lot so I freeze what I can't practically use for a later taste of summer. To do this, lay the berries single-layer across a cookie sheet freeze. I do NOT recommend washing before freezing to help prevent clumping and to preserve the berries in as perfect condition as possible. After the berries are frozen on the cookie sheet, scrape them into a freezer container (or bag) and keep until needed, remembering to rinse them after they're pulled out.

Mulberry Pie
from Yummly

Ingredients:
4 cups (1 qt.) mulberries, rinsed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
double crust pastry

Optional:
- 1 Tbsp. demerara sugar for dusting top of pie lattice

Instructions:
1. In a bowl, combine berries, sugar, and flour until berries are evenly coated. Set aside while crust is blind-baking.
2. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.
3. Pour in berry mixture into prepared crust. With second crust, arrange a lattice top to the pie.
4. In a small bowl, whisk well the egg and 1 Tbsp. water. Brush egg wash across top of pie. Sprinkle demerara sugar on top, if using.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce oven to 350 F and bake for 45 more minutes.
6. Cool pie completely before slicing.

Pie Crust (Pâte Brisée)

I've used essentially this formula for years, if not decades at this point. I'm still not a great pastry cook, but I've made many a good fruit pie and quiche using this basic crust recipe. I've always made it as an all-butter crust, but you can do half lard if you so choose.

Pie Crust (Pâte Brisée)
based on Simply Recipes
makes single crust

Instructions:
1.25 cups (160 g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar (1.5 tsp. if for a sweet recipe)
1 stick butter (112g.) butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
3-4 Tbsp. ice water

Option:
- replace half of butter with lard

Ingredients:
1. In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to combine.
2. Add the butter, half at a time and pulse until mixture is coarse and mealy.
3. Add 2 Tbsp. of ice water to mixture and pulse until just combined. Slowly add more ice water tsp. at a time, pulsing a few times after each addition until mixture just holds when pinched between two fingers.
4. Turn crumbly mixture out onto counter, and fraisage: press the heel of your hand down on the crumbly mixture 4-6 times, to make crust flakier.
5.  Form dough into a flat disk. Cover with plastic wrap.

Later use:
- Freeze for up to a month.

Immediate use:
1. Refrigerate dough disk for an hour or more.
2. Take out of fridge and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Between 2 sheets of wax paper, roll dough out into desired size and shape to about 1/8 inch thickness. Gently massaging together any cracks that form in the dough.
3. Line pie or tart pan with dough, trimming excess. Line inside of crust with aluminum foil.
4. Freeze for at least 15 minutes before use. This will help prevent crust shrinkage.
5. Preheat oven to 425 F. Do NOT defrost crust before blind-baking.
6. Take crust out of the freezer. Poke holes across the bottom of the crust with a fork. Then foil line crust and fill with dried beans, rice, sugar, or pie weights.
7. Place crust in oven, turn temperature to 400 F, and bake for 10-15 minutes until raw dough look is gone
8. Take crust out, remove pie weights and foil. Decrease heat to 350 F and bake for another 10-15 minutes until starting to brown if baking crust again or 15-20 minutes until fully golden brown if making a no-bake pie.