Blue Foods

« Blueberry pie with a pulla dough crust. »

Continuing with the blue foods month theme from the blue moomin princess cake there is the blueberry pie. The Finnish blueberry/bilberry is a bit different from the North American blueberry, though from what I gather from reading around the net, there has been some successful cross breeding of the two varieties to get a sweet blueberry that grows on taller bushes and in more easily harvested bunches. The blueberries are smaller and have serious staining power. Marianna's Finnish Berries reference has a good comparison between the two, though it describes the North American blueberry as sweeter but I always remember blueberries tasting icky when picking them as a kid for my mother's jam making projects. If you use the non-Finnish blueberries, adjust the amount of sugar accordingly to 1/4 cup or so.

I love pie, but I never have enjoyed making the pie crust since American pie crusts are a butter dough that is a pain in the ass to work with given that it's mostly butter with a bit of flour to hold it together. More modern pie crust dough recipes use something called Crisco which, if you ever want to get the mystery glare from a Finnish grocer, ask for it or hydrogenated vegetable oil and enjoy. The idea with Crisco is that it has a higher melting point and thus makes it easier to work with when rolling the dough and makes for a flakier crust. It used to be touted as a healthier alternative to butter but a solid fat is a saturated fat so, all things being equal, the natural product is likely a better way to go. I have found a brick of something called 'Kulta-munkki' which is a solid vegetable fat even at room temperature that is a looks to be a promising candidate for a Finnish Crisco, though I've not tried it yet.

So when I saw the recipe for a pulla dough crust instead of a floury butter crust, I couldn't wait to try it. I find making a yeast dough much more enjoyable and easier than a pie dough. A colleague of mine gave me a big bowl of blueberries so I thought a pie would be perfect. I pulled down my jadeware pie plate/form and proceeded to fill it. Bad move. Finnish pie is not American Pie as I had to bake that sucker far too long to get the filling up to temperature. I keep forgetting that in Finland, pie is something more like the thickness of a brownie than a heaping round pie plate like I'm used to. I could probably manage a pie of American dimensions with this recipe, but I'd cook the filling a bit first and cover the top crust with foil until the last 10 minutes. In spite of the volume error, the pie was excellent even though the crust was a bit crispy. :)

Mummin Mustikkapiirakka / Grandma's Blueberry Pie

Makes: 1 pie
Source: Ruoka & Viini, Nro 30, 5/2005

Pulla dough crust:

• 3 dl or 1.25 cups milk
• 100g or 7 tablespoons butter
• 25g cake yeast or dry yeast equivalent
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 dl or 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons finely ground cardamom (optional)
• 7,5-8,5 dl or 3.24-3.75 cups flour

Filling:

• 6 dl or 2.5 cups blueberries
• 1-1,25 dl or about 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 dl or 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice

Topping:

• 1 egg
• pearl sugar

1. Filling: Mix blueberries, sugar and flour together in a bowl and allow to macerate while making the crust. Set aside.
2. Dough: Warm the milk and butter over a low heat until it is warm to the touch (approx 35C/95F). (You can also leave the butter until the very end and knead it in if you prefer) Stir in yeast until dissolved. If using dry yeast, mix it first with a little flour and only then add it to the milk which should be a bit warmer, about 42C/107F. Add salt, sugar and cardamom. Add in about half the flour. Stir the mixture until it begins to thicken.
3. Add remaining flour about 1 dl (1/2 cup) at a time and knead in by hand or with a mixer fitted with a dough hook. The dough will become soft, elastic and form a ball when the right amount of flour has been added. (If you add too much flour, the dough will be dry and chewy when baked so it's better if you add the flour by hand since you have a better feel for when the right point has been reached. I tend to sift in the flour, too.)
4. Place a towel or plastic wrap over the bowl with the dough and place it in a warm, draft-free place, such as the oven set on warm. Allow to double in size (about 30 minutes).
5. Crust: (use 2/3 of the dough and make pulla or another small pie with the remainder.) Take half of the dough, place on a sheet of baking paper and roll out to a size to fit your pie form. Moisten the counter first before placing the paper on top to make it easier when rolling the dough.
6. Roll to about 1cm thickness and transfer to the pie form. Work the dough into the pan and place in the oven/proofing box to rise again for about 15 min while you make the top crust.
7. Roll the remaining dough out and, with a pizza cutter or a knife, make about 14 strips of dough. Remove pie dough from the oven/proofing box and add blueberry filling. Make lattice with strips (see PDF illustration). Finish edges of the pie by trimming the lattice strips and smoothing/crimping the dough around the edge of the pie form. Brush dough with egg white and sprinkle with pearl sugar.
8. Bake in pre-heated oven at 225C/425F for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool and thicken before serving.