American Flag Pie

How to make an American Flag Pie in a sheet-pan, perfect for Fourth of July! With a homemade crust and blueberry and strawberry filling.

American Flag Slab Pie
Elise Bauer

Looking for something special to bring to a Fourth of July cook-out? Check out this American Flag Pie! It's a sheet-pan slab pie with a homemade crust and a blueberry and strawberry filling, topped with stars and stripes.

Slab pies are shallower than regular pies, but they make up for it in width. A 13 x18 sheet pan pie will easily feed 12 people, perfect for a party.

While conceivably you could use a prepackaged folded frozen pie crust (just get four of them and cut them to fit the rectangular sheet pan, and cut out the shapes), I strongly encourage you to try the home made crust recipe I've included for this pie.

American flag pie in a sheet pan before baking
Elise Bauer

It's my favorite pie crust recipe. It's really easy to make, easy to roll out, requires no special equipment, and you don't have to keep everything cold (actually room temp is best for this recipe). You just need clean hands, flour, sugar, salt, butter, and wait for it...sour cream! The sour cream adds moisture and fat to produce a wonderfully flaky crust.

For the filling for this flag pie we are using blueberries for the stars blue background and strawberries for the red stripes. You could easily substitute and switch it up a bit with blackberries for the stars and rhubarb, cherries, or raspberries for the stripes.

American Flag Pie

Prep Time 60 mins
Cook Time 70 mins
Dough chilling 60 mins
Total Time 3 hrs 10 mins
Servings 12 servings

If you haven't worked with a sour cream pie dough before, it's wetter and more pliable than a standard butter crust dough. Don't worry, it will firm up when it chills.

While this recipe calls for blueberries and strawberries, you can easily change it up a bit. Add raspberries, cherries, or rhubarb to the strawberries or use blackberries instead of or in addition to blueberries.

As you are rolling out the dough for the crust and stars and stripes, if it becomes too too soft to handle, just put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

  • 3 1/2 teaspoons sugar

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

  • 14 ounces butter (3 1/2 sticks), cut into cubes

  • 7/8 cup sour cream (that's 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)

Strawberry filling:

  • 3 1/2 pounds strawberries, hulled, quartered

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • 2 teaspoons orange zest

  • 4 tablespoons cornstarch, flour, or minute tapioca

Blueberry filling:

  • 1 pint blueberries (about 0.6 pounds, 280g)

  • 3 tablespoons sugar

  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest

  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice

  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch, flour, or minute tapioca

Egg wash:

  • 1 egg white

  • 1 teaspoon milk or cream

Special Equipment

  • Star shaped cookie cutter

Method

  1. Make the pie dough:

    Cut the butter into cubes and let sit out for a 10 minutes to take the chill off. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

    Add the butter and toss to coat with the flour. Using your (clean) hands, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

    mix butter with flour to make pie dough for american flag pie
    Elise Bauer
    mix butter until incorporated with the dough for american flag pie
    Elise Bauer

    Add the sour cream and mix with a fork until well incorporated.

    add sour cream to dough mixture for flag pie crust
    Elise Bauer

    Knead with your hands until the mixture comes together as a ball. Divide into 3 equal sized balls of dough (it helps to use a kitchen scale).

    form a ball of dough for pie crust for american flag slab pie
    Elise Bauer
    form 3 rounds of pie dough for american flag pie crust
    Elise Bauer

    Form the balls into rectangular discs. Sprinkle with a little flour and wrap individually with plastic wrap.

    Chill for 1 to 2 hours or overnight (can freeze this point if making several days ahead).

  2. Make the berry fillings:

    Put the quartered strawberries in a large bowl and toss with sugar, cornstarch (or flour, or minute tapioca), and orange zest.

    make strawberry pie filling by combining sugar and strawberries
    Elise Bauer
    coat strawberries with sugar for american flag pie filling
    Elise Bauer

    In a separate smaller bowl, put the blueberries, sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, lemon juice, and cornstarch (or flour or minute tapioca), and toss to combine.

    toss blueberries with sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon
    Elise Bauer
    make blueberry filling for american flag pie
    Elise Bauer
  3. Roll out the dough for the bottom crust:

    Line the bottom of a 13- x 18-inch rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.

    Remove two dough discs from the refrigerator and let sit for 10 minutes to soften a bit. On a clean, lightly floured surface, roll out one disk to 11- x 17-inches and arrange on half of the sheet pan, with an inch of edge over the sides of the sheet pan.

    Roll out the second disc and cover the other half of the sheet pan.

    roll out bottom crust for american flag slab pie, part one
    Elise Bauer
    roll out bottom crust for american flag slab pie, part 2
    Elise Bauer

    Fold the dough over along the edges and crimp.

    Remove any excess dough from center. Form into a ball, then use your hands to roll into a long rope. Crimp that rope of dough and form a rectangle in one corner of the sheet pan. This is where your berries and stars will go. The dough will help keep the blueberries from running into the strawberries. (If you don't have excess dough at this point, no worries, you will later when you cut away the stars and stripes.)

    form well for the blueberry filling in american flag pie crust
    Elise Bauer

    Put in the refrigerator to chill.

  4. Make the egg wash:

    In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white and milk or cream.

  5. Roll out the dough for stars and stripes:

    Remove third rectangular disc of dough from the fridge and let sit for 10 minutes to soften a bit. Roll out so that the longest point is 18-inches.

    Use a dinner knife (blunt) or a pizza wheel to cut out stripes. You'll need 2 stripes that are about 18 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide, and 2 stripes that are about 10 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide.

    Use a star shaped cookie cutter to cut out stars.

    cut stars and stripes out of dough for american flag pie
    Elise Bauer

    Place stars and stripes on a cookie sheet, sheet pan, or large plate. Brush with egg wash. Chill.

  6. Preheat the oven:

    Preheat the oven to 450°F.

  7. Fill the pie and top with stars and stripes:

    Spread the strawberries over the part of the sheet pan where the red and white stripes should be. Scoop the blueberries into the corner where the stars should be.

    add blueberry and strawberry filling to american flag pie crust
    Elise Bauer
    add stars and stripes to american flag sheet pan pie
    Elise Bauer

    Arrange the stars and strips of dough on top of the berries to form the flag. Chill for 10-15 minutes before baking.

  8. Bake:

    Bake at 450°F for 15 minutes. Then tent with foil and lower the heat to 375°F and bake for another 45 to 55 minutes or longer, until the filling is bubbling.

    Remove from oven and let cool at least an hour before serving.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
531 Calories
31g Fat
59g Carbs
6g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories 531
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 31g 40%
Saturated Fat 19g 95%
Cholesterol 97mg 32%
Sodium 384mg 17%
Total Carbohydrate 59g 21%
Dietary Fiber 4g 15%
Total Sugars 22g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 81mg 405%
Calcium 57mg 4%
Iron 2mg 13%
Potassium 297mg 6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.