Baking with Julia – Blueberry Nectarine Pie

So this one had me doubting the recipe again and I want to say right off the bat that I was wrong to do it. I mixed up the dough on Friday night and I decided to just do the whole recipe because it didn’t seem easily halvable (math is not my strong suit peeps) and I checked the book about 6 times before I put in the shortening because it just seemed like SO MUCH! I also decided to follow the instructions and use my paddle instead of the whisk attachment that I normally use when making pastry in my stand mixer and that seemed wrong to me as well. I like using the whisk because it seems like it acts more like a pastry cutter while the paddle seems more meant for blending. Looking at the dough in the bowl I was very, very doubtful. I make pie a lot and my pie dough doesn’t usually look anything like the cookie-doughish consistency that this one took on. But I separated it into four pieces and wrapped it up to wait for a day when I had time to bake.

The fruit portion of this was a cinch – after I managed to de-pit the nectarines that is. I don’t have a lot of experience with stone fruits. My parents never bought them growing up and I never seem to think to do it myself. I maybe should have cooked the fruit a little longer because I didn’t feel like the juice ever really thickened. I didn’t end up adding any lemon juice at all because I thought it tasted very nice without it. Then I took out the dubious crust and guess what, it rolled out like a charm! Oh me of little faith! I did think it was a little floppy and hard to manipulate decoration-wise though. I usually like to make mine look a little fancier but it wouldn’t cooperate with me very much even after the 20 minute chill. I slipped it into the oven with an aluminum foil lined baking sheet on the rack underneath with a little bit of worry. I just was not sure that this crust was going to work out, but as you can see I was totally wrong:

Perfectly golden and crusty looking, no? I didn’t cut it until this morning and everything about it was delicious. I distributed it to all my regular taste testers at work and the vote was unanimous – it’s a winner! I never would have put these two fruits together on my own and I’m so glad I’ve tried it now because I know I’ll make it again. This is definitely one of my favorite pies I’ve made this year. I hope all the rest of the TWD bakers liked it as much as I did! If you want to have one for your very own, check out Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake or Hilary at Manchego’s Kitchen for the recipe.

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