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A Humble Blackberry Pie

I used freshly cracked walnuts for the pie crust, however, any ground nuts would be fine. We buy a large bag of walnuts in their shell to last the year. Left un-cracked they stay fresh for many months stored in a cool cupboard (check out how I crush them here). I used spelt flour for the flour component, which I love to use for baking, although it is little more fiddly to roll and lattice with a lower gluten-content than wheat. I have also made this pastry recipe successfully with gluten-free flour and have included the substitutions below.
Servings 8

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 1/2 cup walnut pieces
  • 1/2 cup white wheat or spelt flour
  • 1/2 cup wholemeal wheat or spelt flour
  • OR for gluten-free use 1 cup gluten-free flour or 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup buckwheat flour + 1/4 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar I used rapadura
  • 100 g cold butter cut into 1 cm cubes
  • 1 free-range egg yolk
  • 1-2 tablespoons iced water

Blackberry filling

  • approx. 2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
  • 1 tablespoon sugar optional
  • milk for brushing the pastry

Instructions

  • Grind the walnuts in a food processor with 1/2 cup of the flour until finely ground. Add the remaining flour and sugar and pulse to combine. Add the cubed butter and pulse 6 times until the butter is cut into pea-sized pieces. Add the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of iced water and pulse another 6 times. If the mixture holds together when pressed it ready. If not, add another 1-2 teaspoons of iced water and pulse to combine. Tip the pastry into a bowl and quickly shape into a flat disk. Cover and chill for 1 hour to firm up.
  • Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 25cm pie dish.
  • Remove the pastry from the fridge. Dust the bench and rolling pin with flour and roll the pastry out until 4mm thick. Cut out a large circle to fit into the dish and gently lift, using the rolling pin, into the pie dish. Carefully press the pastry into the dish, if it tears a little simply press together again. Trim the edges and gather the off-cuts in a ball and chill. Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with beans or pie weights. Blind bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven.
  • Evenly spread the blackberries over the crust and sprinkle with sugar if the berries are tart (this is optional). Roll the remaining pastry and cut into long strips to drape over the berries in a crisscross lattice. Brush with milk (any milk will do). Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until golden. Cool a little before serving warm with yogurt or cream.