Fruit pies are a joyful way to celebrate peak-season produce; avoid making them too sweet or thick so the fruit retains its character. Some berries can be quite tart and will take relatively large amounts of sugar, but perfectly ripe and in-season fruit usually needs very little. You can’t go wrong if you start with ingredients that you’d love to eat raw and keep things simple; see the chart on page 270 for other fantastic additions.
Although frozen fruit has improved greatly in recent years, it tends to become watery as it thaws; increase both sugar and thickener a little when you’re using it to improve winter pies. Usually there is no need to thaw frozen fruit before baking, although if the pieces are large—like peach halves—they should be defrosted enough to slice.
Most fruit pies are double-crusted, and Flaky Piecrust is the classic foundation. There’s also a whole genre of fruit tarts (pages 290–294) in which fruit fills a shorter, crisper crust. Feel free to tinker as you like: Crumb Topping is an easy substitute for the top crust. And you never really need a bottom crust—without one, your pie becomes a cobbler, crisp, or crumble, which is just as tasty.