At the hour of our glorious return to cooking the French Republican Calendar, we celebrate rye… and thyme! In a pie! Thyme finishes off Prairial for us (28 Prairial), as we’re skipping peony and hand cart. Then, rye kicks off our next month, Messidor – the harvest.

Today’s recipe comes from the lovely 101cookbooks.com. Rye is used in the crust and thyme is mixed in with the berry filling.

Berry Pie with Rye Crust 

2/3 cup rye flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1/3 cup cold water or beer

I made the crust in the food processor by mixing the flours and salt together first. Cut up the butter into small pieces and pulse 5 or 6 times in the machine until the butter is well-incorporated. Add the water or beer and pulse again until mixed. Remove and wrap in plastic. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to roll it out for the pan.

Filling

2/3 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 sprigs thyme, with leaves removed

2 lbs berries (I used a mix of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)

2 tbs lemon juice

2 tbs butter

1 egg

Caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 425. Then, mix the brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and thyme in a big bowl. Let it macerate for a few while you roll out the dough. Cut the dough in half and roll out the bottom crust for a 9 inch pie tin. Place the dough in the pie plate and roll out the top crust.

Add the berries to the pie plate and brush some water along the rim of the crust. Add the top crust and press the two crusts together. Brush the top of the pie with a wash of 1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water. Cut some vents and put the pie in the oven. After 25 minutes of baking, remove the pie and add the caster sugar on top. If the crust is golden brown already, reduce the heat to 350 and cook for another 20 minutes. When the crust is a nice golden brown and the filling is bubbling, remove and let cool. Enjoy!