Serves a Crowd

Classic Fresh Strawberry Pie

Name: Classic Fresh Strawberry Pie
Yield: Serves 8-10 generous slices
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour; 1 tablespoon sugar; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 cup frozen butter, grated on largest holes of cheese grater; 2 tablespoons melted butter; 2 tablespoons almond oil; 1 tablespoon sour cream; 1 tablespoon cold milk; 1 quart fresh strawberries, stem removed and left whole (keep the stems and bits of strawberries attached to stems); 1 cup water; scant 1/2 cups sugar; 2 tablespoons cornstarch; 1/4 teaspoon salt

by: testkitchenette

June 2, 2010

3.7 3 Ratings

Serves 8-10 generous slices

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Author Notes

This is another of my maternal grandmother's recipes that she in turn got from another great aunt. I recall eating it most when we went to visit Ohio for my grandmother's birthday in the beginning of July. It is the perfect dessert to showcase the sweetest strawberries you can find. My grandmother made this with a traditional pie crust but I used my no roll pie dough recipe since I lack the space to roll pie dough, decreased the sugar, and made my pie crust with a whole grain flour. The recipe has been further altered the second time I made it. I had a heap of strawberry stems with that little bit of strawberry attached. In my grandfather's thrifty spirit I added them to the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and water mixture to coax out a pink color (and add a bit of flavor too). I have also been known to eat this for breakfast! - testkitchenette —testkitchenette

Test Kitchen Notes

Unlike in a traditional pie, where less-than-perfect fruit can be tossed with enough sugar to draw out flavor and gilded with a buttery crust, only stellar strawberries will do here. Testkitchenette calls for white whole wheat flour, but I used a combo of white and whole wheat flours, which aside from a longer baking time (20 min. total), seemed to work out fine. Though I liked the idea of coloring the glaze with the tops of the berries, I spaced on saving them and sacrificed a couple hulled (mashed) strawberries instead. The result was a really fresh-tasting and wholesome pie; particularly good for breakfast! - Midge
—The Editors

Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Ingredients

No Roll Pie Dough
1 ¹/₂ cups white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
¹/₂ teaspoon salt
¹/₄ cup frozen butter, grated on largest holes of cheese grater
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons almond oil
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 tablespoon cold milk

Strawberries and Glaze
1 quart fresh strawberries, stem removed and left whole (keep the stems and bits of strawberries attached to stems)
1 cup water
scant ¹/₂ cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¹/₄ teaspoon salt

Directions

No Roll Pie Dough
Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together in a bowl.
Add the frozen butter and rub into the dry mixture to resemble sand.
Mix the melted butter, almond oil, and sour cream together and add to the butter and flour mixture. Add the cold milk and mix with your fingers or fork/pastry cutter until flour is incorporated. Pour into a 9 inch pie pan or springform pan and press into the bottom and as far up the sides as it will go. Chill in refrigerator for about an hour.
Line pie crust with tin foil and weight with beans and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and beans and bake for another 3 minutes. Cool.

Strawberries and Glaze
In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt and whisk until no lumps remain (or sift). Add water and cook (stirring constantly) over medium heat until it boils gently and thickens (adjust heat if necessary). Add reserved strawberry hulls to infuse with pink color. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes to avoid the raw cornstarch taste. Strain the stems out and press on then to get all of the glaze out.
Retrieve your cooled pie crust and arrange a layer of whole strawberries in the pie shell and spoon some of the hot glaze over them. Add another layer of berries and spoon the rest of the glaze over them. Chill until ready to serve (a few hours ideally).
Serve alone, with whipped cream, creme fraiche, or vanilla ice cream.

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3 Reviews

SoHungry July 12, 2010

Due to lack of time and extra frozen crusts that needed to be used, I used the glaze directions (except I tossed in a couple of frozen strawberries for color rather than using the stems) and the strawberry pies turned out great. I made it twice. The second time I believe I even substituted honey in place of half or all of the sugar.

I wanted to try the same glaze recipe for my blueberry pie...and I ran into trouble. The glaze was really really thick and not as translucent as when I was making it the first two times. I'm not sure what I did wrong. It still tasted good, but it was so thick that it just layered on top and didn't slide between the blueberries.

testkitchenette June 3, 2010

Thank you and you were on the money for making it in the morning for the evening...that's how Grandma made it and so do I!

Lizthechef June 2, 2010

Looks good and you are right about your timing. I said 4 hours in my recipe, but we gobbled it down after 3 hours, once I had run home from the market, made and posted it - we are akin about what to do with strawberries :)

Serves a Crowd