Recipe: Bubby's Blueberry-Peach Pie and Basic Butter and Shortening Pastry Pie Dough

BUBBY'S BLUEBERRY-PEACH PIE

"Bubby's has been serving up this pie from its earliest days as a pie shop. This is a "veh-reh Suuth-n paa," soothing and jammy, dark violet and mellow."

Pastry for a 9-inch double-crust pie, chilled (recipe follows, or your favorite recipe)
1 1/2 pounds peaches, peeled and cut in 6 pieces
2 cups blueberries
3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 lemon, zested
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cubed
Sugar, to sprinkle on top of crust

Roll out pastry and line a 9-inch pie tin with bottom crust, roll out remaining dough for the top crust. Rechill the pastry if necessary.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

In a large bowl, layer the peaches, blueberries, sugar, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Mix the fruit filling lightly, as little as possible, to get the ingredients dispersed. Scrape the filling into the bottom crust and dot the top with butter. Cover with the second crust. Trim and crimp the crust; chill the pie for 10 minutes in the freezer.

Cut vent slits in the top crust and sprinkle it lightly with sugar.

Bake the pie on a lipped baking sheet for 10 minutes or until the crust looks dry, blistered, and blond. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for at least 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden brown and visible juices are thickened and bubble slowly through the slits in the top crust.

Cool the pie completely before cutting, at least a few hours. Serve it at room temperature. Store uncovered at room temperature, up to 3 days.

BASIC BUTTER AND SHORTENING PASTRY PIE DOUGH

"The butter gives this crust flavor and the shortening makes the dough a little easier to work with because of its higher melting temperature. It's an appealing choice for economy and convenience, and its forgiving nature makes it an easy dough to work with in production baking. This dough is a good choice for fried pies because it holds up so well and has good buttery flavor"

FOR AN 8- TO 10-INCH SINGLE CRUST:
4 to 5 tablespoons ice cold water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
3 tablespoons cold shortening

FOR AN 8- TO 10-INCH DOUBLE CRUST OR 12-INCH SINGLE CRUST:
5 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
4 tablespoons cold shortening

FOR A 12-INCH SINGLE CRUST:
1/2 cup ice cold water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
6 tablespoons cold shortening

Measure flour and salt into bowl. Work in the shortening quickly and lightly, rubbing it in with the fingertips, or cutting it with a pastry blender, fork or two knives held in the same hand, until the particles are the size of peas. Sprinkle with ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring it in with a fork, just until the particles are moistened and stick together.

If you're making a single crust, shape the dough into one round ball with your hands. If you're making a double crust, divide the dough into slightly uneven halves and shape each half into a ball - the larger of which will be for the bottom crust, the smaller ball for the top. Cover each ball tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour to relax and slow the gluten development and rechill the fat. In practical terms, this cold rest make the dough easier to roll out.

To roll dough, dust a pastry board lightly with flour. Lightly flatten the dough. Using a lightly floured rolling pin and making short strokes, roll the dough to 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick, from center to the edges, making a round 1 inch larger in diameter than the pie pan.

Tips: Turn the dough to keep it round. Do not turn it over, but lift it from the surface occasionally. If the round splits at the edges, press them back together. Sprinkle the working surface with flour, as needed.)

Line the bottom of a pie pan with the dough, then add filling, leaving 1-inch hanging over edge. Add top crust and crimp edges to seal.

FOR A LATTICE TOP CRUST:
Line the bottom of a pie pan with the dough, then add filling, leaving 1-inch hanging over edge. With a knife trim the edges of the pie. Use the second portion and prepare strips for a lattice top crust. Lay half the 1/2-inch wide strips across the pie approximately 1 inch apart. Repeat process crossing the first layer of strips. Trim the edges of the strips, moisten the edge of the pastry with water, then fold edges of bottom crust over strips and press to seal.)

Make 1 (9-inch) double-crust pie
Adapted from source: Bubby's Homemade Pies by Ron Silver and Jen Bervin