Random Recipes 15.01

So, wild blackberries, if you have never tried them, are several standard deviations above store bought or typical cultivated blackberries as far as flavor and awesomeness.  I don't know why this is, but they are definitely different.  I used to pick blackberries at local patches all the time, and haven't done so in quite a while.  As luck would have it, we currently live near a lot of blackberry patches and I went out with my fiance yesterday and we picked about 2 pounds of blackberries.  With so many, I thought I might try my hand at making a pie.  I've only ever had a berry pie once before, so this was going to be interesting.  I made everything essentially from scratch, as follows:

Crust: 2 sticks butter (sliced and frozen), 2.5 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 6-8tbsp water - basically mix, I did it by hand, and then make two separate spheres and refrigerate for about an hour.

Filling: 3 tbsp corn starch, 4-5 cups blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice - mix it all together

Covering: 1 egg, 1 tbsp water, sugar to a certain consistency - blend together separately until it has a somewhat grainy texture

It's pretty simple - roll one ball of the pie dough to about 11-12 inches in diameter for an 8-9 inch pie tin, I made it about 1/4 inch thick.  Put it in the pie tin.  Roll out the other dough ball, and cut strips about 1/2 - 3/4 inch wide, and 6-9 inches long.  Pour the filling into the pie.  Layer the dough strips across in an alternating fashion.  Take the egg-water-sugar mixture and paint the tops of the dough so it glistens a bit.  If you don't think the sugar is apparent enough, take some extra sugar and lightly dust the surface of the strips so it makes a coating.  

Oven at 400 degrees F, put in uncovered for 30 minutes, then cover with tin foil and put in another 20-30 minutes until you can see the surface of the filling sizzling or making a few bubbles.  

Take out, cool, enjoy.  

It passed the taste test now too - quite delicious.  Unfortunately I don't have much to compare it to, so who knows how good it really is, but the sweetest tastiest ripe wild fresh-picked blackberries I could find can't possibly be bad!  Nom nom nom.