My family find this Blueberry Pie irresistible. I watched as one by one they all came back for just a little sliver (when they thought no one was looking). The combination of Sour Cream Bitsa Pastry with blueberries & a hint of vanilla is simply wonderful. 

To ensure the pastry is flaky you need a relatively cool kitchen when making it.

This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour. 

Ingredients 

Pastry (modified)

300 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

1/4 - 1/2 tsp Salt

50 g Butter cold & chopped

200 ml Sour cream

60 g Caster sugar

1 Egg yolk

Extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour for flouring worksurface & rolling pin.

 

To make it flaky 

~150 g Butter (preferably overnight in the freezer)

 

Extra egg for brushing top of pastry

Extra sugar for sprinkling on top of pastry

 

Filling

400 g Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

125 g Caster sugar

25 g Maize starch

1/8 tsp Salt

Smidge (~1/16 tsp) Vanilla powder or a little paste

Blueberries - Sometimes I use 500 g (depends on the packet size if I'm using frozen blueberries) with 150 g sugar & 30 g maize starch.  

 

Method

Frozen blueberries - Will need to be defrosted before going into the pie. If they are still slightly frozen the blueberries end up slightly stewed (been there done that). 

Mix together the blueberries, sugar, vanilla, salt & maize starch in a bowl. Set it aside. 

Thermomix

Put the Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour, sour cream, sugar, salt & egg yolk into the TM bowl.

Mix for 20 sec on speed 4.

If the dough is still marble sized pieces mix for another 4 - 5 secs on speed 4.

Stand mixer

Mix together the Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour, sugar & salt. 

Put the flour combo, chopped butter, sour cream & yolk into the mixing bowl.

Mix on low/medium until it forms a ball.

Food Processor

Put the Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour, sour cream, sugar, salt & egg yolk into the bowl.

Mix until it comes together as a dough.

All methods

Use some of the extra Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour to lightly flour a clean work surface & rolling pin. I use a pastry mat.

Transfer the dough to the floured surface.

Knead the dough. Kneading the dough helps with the flexibility. 

Roll out the pastry, trying to keep it in a ~rectangular shape (~30 x 50 cm). Take out the chunk of butter from the freezer. Grate the butter over the top of the dough like you would cheese on to a pizza base. The photos below are from Fabulous Flaky pastry. 

Fold in the sides a little bit, enough to have a folded edge the length of the dough.

Fold over the end that is the furthest away from you a little bit. Roll the pastry up.

Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape (~30 x 50 cm). You will see the streaks of butter in the dough.I usually lift the dough up every now & then & put a bit more flour to prevent it sticking to the work surface. Fold in one long side of dough to approximately the middle, fold the other long side into the middle. The rectangle will now be ~15 x 50 cm. Fold in one end to approximately the middle then fold the other end in to the middle. The rectangle will now be ~15 x 25 cm. Then fold it up one side on to the other like a book (~15 x ~12 cm). Repeat the rolling out & folding up. 

Grease a pie dish.

Egg wash - In a small container lightly whisk the egg (for brushing on top of the pastry) with a little salt. Set it aside.

Turn oven on to 180 C (fan forced).

Place dough onto a floured work surface. Cut the dough into 2 pieces, one slightly larger (top of pie) than the other (base of pie). Roll out the piece of dough for the base of the pie, making it large enough to come over the sides of the dish. To ensure the dough is an even thickness follow this tip. Find 2 placemats (dinner setting - my placemats are ~4 mm thick) or two pieces of cardboard (I use ones that are 2-3 mm thick) or metal spacers (I have ones that are 1 mm, 2 mm & 3 mm) place one on either side of the dough. When rolling out the dough ensure the rolling pin is wide enough to span the dough and part of the top of the placemats/cardboard. My rolling pin is large – 61 cm from handle to handle. Initially when rolling the pin may not necessarily rest on the placemats/cardboard, however, when the dough is the same thickness as the placemats/cardboard it will. At this stage the dough should be all the same thickness.

Line the pie dish with the pastry dough. Leave the excess dough for the moment.  

Roll out the dough for the top of the pie. Ensure that it is large enough to cover the top of the pie & overhang a little. The pastry will shrink a little when cooked. I find it easier to brush the pastry with the egg wash when it is still on the pastry mat. Cut shapes out of the top dough if you want to. It makes it easier to see when the filling is bubbling.

Transfer the blueberry mix to the pie dish. Brush the edges of the bottom pastry dough with the egg wash. The egg wash helps to stick the top & bottom dough together without squashing the layers of dough together.  

Transfer the top pastry dough to cover the blueberry mix. Sprinkle a little caster sugar over the top of the pie.

Trimming the excess pastry - My skills at making pie edges needs a lot of work so I basically left a 3 cm overhang of the dough & cut the rest off. The overhang decreases the amount of pastry shrinkage during baking. I must confess I love eating pastry & after the pie was cooked I may have trimmed the pastry a little more. I also bake the dough that was trimmed off the pie. 

Bake at 180 for ~50 - 60 mins. The length of time required for baking will depend on the thickness of the pastry & your oven. The pie is cooked when the blueberry filling is bubbling. 

Allow to cool slightly before serving with cream and/or ice-cream.

Simply enjoy!