Question 1

Help! The bottoms of my fruit pies are always soggy. What am I doing wrong?

Accepted Answer

Listen. This is a common issue, so you're not alone. There are a couple of things you can do to try to prevent a soggy bottom crust on your fruit pies.

Bake the pies on the lowest rack in your oven, so they are closest to the heating element. Start at a higher temperature for about 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to finish baking the pie.

In this blackberry pie recipe and in my rhubarb pie recipe, I also sprinkle the bottom crust with some of the flour and sugar used in the filling before topping with the fruit. As the pie cooks, this creates an extra barrier that helps protect the bottom crust from the fruit juices.

Question 2

Can I use frozen blackberries instead of fresh?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. If your blackberries are frozen, do not thaw them. Add an extra tablespoon of flour (7 tablespoons total in the filling) and plan to add 5-10 minutes onto the baking time.

Question 3

Can I decorate this pie with a lattice top?

Accepted Answer

Yes! You can top your blackberry pie with any kind of crust decorations that you like. You can use a lattice crust or even use small cookie cutters to cut decorations out of the pie crust scraps.

If you are adding small pie dough decorations, I usually like to "glue" these on with a bit of egg wash.

Question 4

Can I make this pie gluten free?

Accepted Answer

If you need a gluten-free pie, make sure you swap out the crust for your favorite gluten-free pie crust and use cornstarch as the thickener in the filling instead of flour.

Since cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour, you will only need half the amount of cornstarch—3 tablespoons, in this case.

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