blueberry pie help needed

[grasswire]

Okay, so today I made a beautiful deep dish two-crust blueberry pie. Just one problem: the interior was runny. Way too runny. Here's what I used:

6 cups of frozen blueberries, thawed, and then tossed with cornstarch and sugar, vanilla and spices.

Baked until lovely brown.

This is the recipe posted at the blueberry farm site, where it said that frozen could be used interchangeably with fresh.

I realize that I could use a different method -- make a top-of-the-stove filling with cornstarch and then pour into the pie and bake.

Any other recommendations?

[eridani]

1. Cornstarch was the first thing I thought of n/t

[Brewman_Jax]

2. Arrowroot is a good substitute for corn starch

if you prefer a more natural/less processed option.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. I don't buy that frozen are interchangeable in pies...

I use frozen berries in muffins with great success, but every time I let the berries thaw they get mushy and I can't even use them on cereal, so I would be hesitant to use them in pies where they are free to run.

I suspect that there's a lot of cellular damage in most frozen berries, but some brands might have techniques to minimize that-- the guys selling blueberries leave it up to you to figure it out.

[MagickMuffin]

4. I only use frozen fruits for pies, blueberry, peach, dark cherries

and I always cook them on the stove with cornstarch, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

This has always worked for me.

[grasswire]

5. then do you put them in a cooked pie shell? or uncooked? (eom)

[Warpy]

6. I'd be tempted to cook the pie shell

but not brown it. You'd have to use one of those aluminum crust protector thingies to prevent the fluted edge from overbrowning.

Precooking the filling on top of the stove seems to be the solution, whether or not you precook the bottom crust. It would allow you to control the runniness of the filling by adding more cornstarch as needed.

(I say cornstarch because arrowroot doesn't reheat well and if you're like me, you like to zap a piece of that pie for 30 seconds or so to rewarm it)

[MagickMuffin]

8. I pre-bake it for 7 to 10 minutes

I check on it to make sure it doesn't start to poof up to much, if it does I take it out of the oven until the poofiness goes down, then back into the oven.

I tend to pre-bake it while my fruit cools a little bit. I also use cookie cutters ( oak leaves, acorns, maple leaves ) for the top crust.

[supernova]

7. I scored a Pie cookbook at the recycling center yesterday

When I looked at your thread, the first page I opened it to today is a recipe for blueberry pie. They do call for frozen berries.

They use both 1/1/2 Tbsp cornstarch and 2 Tbsp of quick cooking tapioca

Here are the directions:

Thaw berries until most of he free ice has disappeared. Drain off juice, measure and add water to make 1/2 C liquid; stir into mixture of sugar, tapioca and cornstarch into saucepan. Heat rapidly until thickeningis complete. Boiling is not necessary. Set aside to cool.

Add berries and lemon juice. to cooled, thickened juice. Pour filling into pastry-lined pie pan.

[grasswire]

9. what's the next step?

Can't tell from that recipe if it's a pre-baked shell and that's the end of the process, or if they are going to then bake it in a two-crust pie.

I understand that the berries continue to break down during the baking, which is part of the problem with the recipe I used. The other part of the problem is using only cornstarch, apparently.

So I'm going to try again using two thickening agents and baking the berries in a two crust pie. If that doesn't work, then I'm going to try making the filling separately.

Thanks for your footwork. Every tidbit of knowledge helps. :-)

[supernova]

11. LOL. Here's the full recipe

I had just taken out the part about the thickening agents before. I'm retyping it because it's so old, I don't see it scanned online anywhere.



Country Blueberry Pie (Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook copyright 1965)

Pastry for 2-crust pie

3 c. frozen blueberries (unsweetened)

Blueberry juice
Water
3/4 c. sugar
2 tblsp. quick-cooking tapioca
1 1/2 tblsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. lemon juice

Thaw berries until most of free ice has disappeared. Drain off juice, measure and add water to make 1/2 c. liquid; stir into maxture of sugar, tapioca and cornstarch in saucepan. Heat rapidly until thickening is complete. Boiling is not necessary. Set aside to cool.

Add berries and lemon juice to cooled, thickened juice. Pour filling into pastry-lined 9" pie pan. Cut steam vents and adjust top crust; flue edges.

Bake in hot oven (425 F.) 30 minutes, or until nicely browned. For a brown undercrust, bake on lowest oven shelf.

---------

Me again. You can cook it on a lower shelf, but like evenone else here, I'd want to prebake the crust first. Not to brown, just so that it isn't raw anymore.

[spinbaby]

10. Here's the secret

Pre-cook the filling. Yes, on the stove top. Cool to room temperature, then fill pie and bake. I like clear gel for thickening pie fillings. I get it from the local Mennonite bulk store, but you can get it from King Arthur, too.

[sandnsea]

12. Good idea

I've never had much luck with blueberry pie either. But anything made with raw blueberries, or cooked mixture like you said, has worked. I'll have to try a pie that way next time!