Part pie, part crisp, this recipe has all the best parts of a fruit dessert. It's scented with vanilla bean and studded with poppy seeds (which soon you'll be putting in all your crumble toppings). This wonderfully tasty nectarine pie comes to us courtesy of Ovenly, Brooklyn's award-winning bakery.
To make the crust: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt, then add the butter. Rub the butter and flour together until the mixture has a cornmeal-like consistency and no large butter clumps remain.
Add the ice water in a slow stream, mixing to make a cohesive dough.
Press the dough together to loosely combine any ragged pieces. Turn it out onto a floured work surface, and press it together with the heel of your hand, using an outward rubbing motion. This will incorporate all the butter into the dough. Halve the dough, and form each half into a ball.
Press and shape each piece of dough into a 6" disk about 1" thick. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight. This recipe uses just one of the dough disks; the other one can be frozen for up to a month.
Remove one disk of chilled dough from the refrigerator, and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a 12" circle.
Fold the dough in half and gently transfer it to a 9" pie pan. Tuck the overhanging dough under itself, crimping as desired. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes before filling.
To make the filling: Remove the pits from the nectarines and cut the halves into 1/4"-thick slices. Mix them with the blueberries. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean, and mix them into the fruit.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, and sugar. Add to the fruit mixture, stirring until the fruit is evenly coated. Set the fruit aside.
To make the topping: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a food processor, combine the vanilla sugar with the flour, oats, poppy seeds, and salt. Add the butter and pulse until a loose dough forms.
Scrape the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, forming small and large clumps with your hands.
Bake the topping until cooked through but not browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer it to a rack to cool completely. Increase the oven temperature to 425ºF.
To assemble and bake the nectarine pie: Once the crust is thoroughly chilled and the topping cooled, fill the crust with the fruit mixture. Sprinkle evenly with the crumble topping.
Bake the pie for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and let the pie cool for 15 to 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
Storage information: Store leftover nectarine pie, well-wrapped, in the refrigerator for several days.
Flour, cornstarch, tapioca, ClearJel… how much thickener should you use? For a practical look at all the options, see our Fruit Pie Thickeners Guide.
