Fresh Strawberry Pie

Pie crust

1. For this recipe you will need 1 pie crust, blind baked in a 9 inch pie plate. Follow my flaky pie crust recipe to make 1 crust. The recipe is for 2 crusts, but you can halve the recipe to make 1 OR make 2 and freeze the extra portion for later.
2. When making the pie crust, make sure the butter and liquid are chilled. If the butter in the dough softens at any stage, it can make the dough too sticky to handle. If that happens, return it to the fridge to chill the butter before continuing again.
3. Roll out the pie crust dough to a 3 - 4 mm thickness and line your pie dish with the dough. Create the pie crust edge according to the pie crust recipe and crimp or flute the edge for a decorative pie crust border.
4. Cover and chill the pie crust for at least 30 minutes until the oven preheats. Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven (I place it just above the lowest rack), and then place a metal baking tray to preheat in the oven. This metal baking tray should preheat for a minimum of 30 minutes, so that it's able to brown the pie crust well from the bottom too.
5. Line the inside of the pie crust with foil and fill with sugar or rice, and blind bake the crust in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes. See my pie crust recipe for detailed information for successful results.
6. Remove the pie crust from the oven and then carefully remove the foil with the pie weights. Use a fork to dock the bottom of the crust and return it to the oven to fully blind bake for a further 10 - 15 minutes until it turns dark golden in color.
7. To seal the crust and add a sheen - remove the crust just as it turns a light golden color. Then brush the whole inside of the pie crust AND the pie crust border with an egg wash (a beaten egg) and bake for a further 5 - 7 minutes until the crust is a dark golden color and has a shiny finish.
8. Remove the crust from the oven and let it cool down while you make the filling.

Strawberry filling (make this while the pie crust is baking)

1. The strawberries are divided into two portions - 450 g for the filling base (you can also use frozen strawberries for this portion), 900 g for the filling and topping (this portion has to be fresh berries). Halve the strawberries that will be used as the filling and topping and set aside.
2. Place the 450 g strawberries in a pot with the vanilla, lemon and sugar. Cook the mixture over medium heat while stirring occasionally until the mixture comes to a boil and the strawberries start to soften.
3. Crush the strawberries in the mixture and continue to cook until the mixture thickens, about 20 - 25 minutes.

Adding starch thickener

1. If using regular cornstarch, dissolve the remaining cornstarch in water and whisk it into the strawberry base.
2. If using instant clearjel, whisk the starch with sugar. Then stir in the water to help dissolve the starch and then add this mixture to the strawberry base.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil while whisking. Lower the heat to a simmer and simmer the mixture while whisking for about 5 minutes, until is reaches a thick, shiny, jammy consistency.

OPTIONAL STEPS

1. To make the filling more stiff and stable - bloom the optional gelatin in water while cooking the filling, for at least 10 minutes. Then add the bloomed gelatin to the hot base, just after it’s done cooking.
2. To increase the strawberry flavor - add 1 tbsp of freeze-dried strawberry powder. This will also deepen the color of the filling.

Adding fresh strawberries

1. Add the prepared fresh strawberries (about 900 g) into the remaining hot strawberry base in the pot, and gently fold it in to mix the base with the fresh strawberries.
2. Immediately scrape out the filling into the baked, slightly cooled crust, but leave some of the halved fresh strawberries in the filling in the pot. The remaining strawberries in the pot can be used to make a decorative pattern on top if you like. If you do not want to create a pattern on top, then just add all the strawberries into the pie crust.
3. Spread the filling to make it even and the top smooth.

Topping

1. Before the filling sets, use the remaining strawberries in the pot to create a pattern on top of the filling. Use extra fresh strawberries if needed.
2. Scrape out any remaining filling base in the pot over the top layer of strawberries to create a shiny surface.
3. Let the pie set in the fridge for about 4 hours.
4. Decorate the top with whipped cream (optional), or serve it on the side with the pie.

Whipped cream

1. Place the heavy cream and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl, or any container.
2. Whisk the sugar, salt, and instant clearjel or instant vanilla pudding together in a separate bowl.
3. Whisk the heavy cream on medium high speed, and stream in the sugar mixture as the cream is whipping.
4. Once the sugar is added, reduce the speed to medium and whisk the whipped cream until you get soft peaks.
5. At this point, manually whisk the whipped cream to get it to slightly stiff peaks. Manually whisking will decrease the chances of over-whisking and curdling the whipped cream.
6. Use the whipped cream to decorate the strawberry pie to your liking.