Marilyn Batali's Blackberry Pie

tl;dr : the pie is horrible to make, requiring recipe modification (see below re: cellophane & refrigeration), and its high-count 5-star rating is almost certainly fraudulent---though the pie itself tastes fine. I doubt I'll ever again make it.

I'm afraid I must partially agree with AshleyRamsey's review. (I've made three of these pies, so it wasn't just a one-off issue.)

1) Despite my having a fancy, non-stick rolling pin, as well as using flour to further reduce sticking, the dough was absolutely impossible to roll out without having it stick and rip apart. The only way I was able to succeed in the end was by rolling it out between two sheets of cellophane (which stayed in place through dough refrigeration and roll-out afterward, only being removed when the dough was being put in place in the pie pan).

2) Just following the directions provided leads to an end result that does not hold together for dish-up. It's more like blackberry cobbler than blackberry pie, by the time you pile the dismembered mess of a "pie slice" onto a plate. (I even let all my pies cool for much longer than directed.) Only one of my three pies seemed to hold together better than the others (i.e., properly), and I speculate that the reason was due to refrigerating it (which is not mentioned in the instructions at all, much less recommended).

3) I thought the pie itself tasted just fine---pretty good, really---but it was a pain in the butt to make and yielded frustrating results when simply following the directions. It's unlikely I'll ever select this recipe again.

NOTE: I'm pretty sure this recipe got "bot-rated-up". Look at the "review" pattern: this blackberry pie recipe has *massively* more reviews than any other, ALL its reviews (except AshleyRamsey's and my own) are 5 stars, and most are anonymous and made on exactly the same day (11/12/2020). This all sounds highly suspicious to me.

This blackberry pie was amazing! Though, I did substitute 1/3 of the blackberries with raspberries and instead of cooking it for 1 hour and 15 minutes I only cooked it for 45 minutes. If I had cooked it for the full time it definitely would have burned. But overall the crust was perfect and the flavors were right on point!

This was the worst pie I’ve ever made. The crust was impossible to handle (kept tearing and breaking, very difficult to handle and roll out) and once baked was flavorless and greasy. The proportions for filling to crust were way off and the pie was under filled. I’m not sure more filling would have helped, however, as the sugar and lemon used in the filling seemed to be just enough to detract from the “natural” blackberry taste while adding nothing to the pie. Overall a waste of ingredients.

Great pie that lets the blackberries shine! The simple ingredients in the filling make it thick enough without giving it that “gummy” consistency of canned filling. The tartness is perfectly balanced with the sweetness and crispness of the crust. If you don’t like tart, make sure your blackberries are ripe, reduce the lemon or add a little sugar. The crust can get burned on edges, so I would cover for at least the last 30 minutes. It took me a couple times to roll the crusts due to breakage, but I feel it was due to my inexperience and the dough rolled out just fine.