Mixed Berry Double-Crust Slab Pie

Make the dough: Stir the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl to combine. Add the butter and use a pastry cutter or two knives in a scissor-like motion to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly, with some bigger chunks of butter remaining. (You can also do this with your hands, pinching each cube of butter between your fingertips.) Don’t work the mixture so long that it looks like dough. Add the water and cream and combine with your hands to form a shaggy, crumbly mixture.

Dump the shaggy mixture out onto your work surface and gather any loose bits to form a big hunk of dough. If the dough is too dry to come together, add another tablespoon, and then a second tablespoon of ice water if needed, until you have enough moisture to form the dough into a ball; don’t add so much water that the dough is sticky or tacky. And do not work the dough on the counter as if you were kneading bread dough. This will result in a tough crust (the opposite of flaky in the pastry world).

Cut the dough in half. Use your hands to shape each half into a ½-inch-thick rectangular slab. (This gives you a head start when rolling it out later.) Wrap each slab of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or ideally overnight to rest and chill.

Make the filling: Combine the sugar with 2 tablespoons of water in a medium saucepan (preferably with a light-colored bottom so you can see when the sugar colors) and stir with your finger to make a sandy mixture. Cook over medium heat, swirling the pan so the sugar cooks evenly and using a wet pastry brush to remove any granules of sugar from the sides of the pan (otherwise they’ll burn and make your sugar bitter), until the sugar is a light caramel color, about 5 minutes.

Add the blackberries. When you do this, the sugar will immediately harden. Don’t be alarmed! Just keep cooking until the sugar melts, stirring as it becomes feasible to stir, until the blackberries begin to lose their shape and all the solid bits of sugar have melted, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.

Remove about ¼ cup of the syrup from the blackberries and put it in a small bowl. Add the cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla and cinnamon and stir to dissolve any lumps. Add this mixture to the pot with the berries. Stir to combine and cook over medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until the liquid starts to thicken. Turn off the heat.

Combine the remaining berries in a large bowl. (If the strawberries are enormous, cut them in halves or thirds.) Add the cooked blackberries, making sure to get all the syrupy goop out of the saucepan. Fold the raw berries into the goopy blackberries and refrigerate for about 1 hour (or as long as overnight) to chill. (You can put this in the freezer to speed up the process, but make sure to set a timer so you don’t forget the fruit there.)

Roll out the dough for the bottom crust: To roll out the dough, note that the goal is to work quickly so the dough doesn’t warm up in the process. Have flour handy for dusting the dough and have a quarter-sheet pan close by; as you are rolling, keep in mind that you are lining that pie dish, so your goal is to roll it into a ⅛-inch-thick rectangular-ish shape that is at least 1½ inches larger than that pan, around all sides.

Lightly dust a flat work surface with flour. Remove 1 slab of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on the floured surface with the short edge parallel to the counter. Place your rolling pin in the center of the slab of dough. (I like a French rolling pin, which has tapered edges and no handles. It’s easier to gauge how much pressure you’re putting on the dough and feel it stretch out under your hands. Using a rolling pin with handles, the tendency is to just roll back and forth as if you were rolling paint onto a wall, and you are not painting a wall. If you only have a rolling pin with handles, pretend the handles aren’t there and rest the palms of your hands directly on the pin.)

Applying gentle pressure, roll toward the top edge, feeling the dough gently stretch out under the rolling pin. Return the pin to the center position and do this a few more times, adjusting the pressure and the angle of your rolling pin and rotating the dough as needed to roll the dough to an even thickness. Dust underneath the dough, the top of the dough and the rolling pin lightly with flour whenever the dough is sticking and when you rotate it. (If the dough gets warm and difficult to work with — if it is sticking and ripping — transfer it in whatever state of rolling it’s in onto a large baking sheet and throw it in the freezer to firm up, then start again.) Place the quarter-sheet pan on the dough and make sure it’s at least 1½ inches larger all around. If not, roll the dough until it is.

Line the quarter-sheet pan with dough: Fold the dough in half and slide the pan beneath it. Unfold the dough so it’s centered on the pan. Don’t stretch the dough to fit; instead, lift the edges of the dough as you let the dough drop into the pan. Use the knuckle of your index finger to gently press the dough into the sides and corners of the pan. If there’s a lot of excess dough, use kitchen shears (or any clean scissors) to roughly trim the excess but make sure to leave at least 1 inch all the way around. (This is just to make it easier to work with. You’ll trim it again later.) Put the pie shell in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight to chill. (Chilling the pie shell helps it retain its shape when it’s baked. It’s also a great way to prepare ahead of time.)

Roll out the dough for the top crust: Have a large baking sheet handy. Use a bench scraper to scrape your work surface clean and dust it with flour. Remove the second slab of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on the dusted surface. Roll out the dough as you did the first sheet. Fold it in half, lift it onto the baking sheet and unfold it so it lies flat. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or overnight to chill.

When you’re ready to bake the pie, adjust the oven racks so one is in the lowest position. Place a large baking sheet on the rack. (If you need the one in the refrigerator, slide the dough off onto your counter and use that.) Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Fill and cover the pie: Remove the pie shell, filling and the flat sheet of dough from the refrigerator. Spoon the filling into the prepared pie shell; make sure the filling gets into the corners and smooth out the top. Scatter the butter cubes over the fruit. Lay the sheet of dough on top of the pie pan, centering it. Trim both sheets of dough so they’re about 1 inch larger than the rim of the pie. Fold the excess dough under itself to create a lip on the edge of the pan. Use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges of the pie shell; if the fork sticks to the dough, dip it in flour and continue. (Or crimp the pie in whatever way you like!) Use a paring knife to cut long slits in the top sheet of dough in whatever decorative way you like.

(Catherine Dzilenski / For The Times/Catherine Dzilenski)

Finish and bake the pie: Brush the crust, including the crimped edges, with cream or milk and sprinkle generously with the turbinado sugar. If the oven isn’t preheated to 400 degrees, put the pie in the freezer until it is.

Place the pie on the preheated baking sheet and bake it for 55 to 65 minutes, until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices are bubbling and jammy, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through so the pie cooks evenly. If the crust starts to brown before the fruit begins to bubble, cover the browned edges or loosely tent the whole pie with foil.

Remove the pie from the oven and set it aside for about 2 hours to chill before cutting into it.