Whole Wheat Berry Turnovers

Not the most visually appealing pie-like things I've ever made, but these mixed-berry turnovers were pretty tasty and made for several days' worth of decadent and quick breakfasts. Also, there's something wonderful about hand pies: you pick one up and take a bite. You never put it back down.

I used pretty much the same crust as always (the one first posted here), but with a bit of whole wheat flour (about 1/4 of the total- in this case 1/2 cup of 2 1/2 cups' total flour). The whole wheat gave these a pleasantly nutty quality, but didn't really change anything else about them.

The berries are sweetened with honey, as is my usual practice with fruit. Blackberries, blueberries and raspberries: a nice cross-section of summer. My recipe was pretty simple and based on the Olallieberry Pie recipe in Adrienne Kane's book United States of Pie. Basically: Toss ~6cups of berries with 1 cup sweetener, 1/4 cup flour, and a pinch of salt. In retrospect, I think these could've used a tablespoon of cornstarch to gelatinize the filling a bit. Also I think these could have been a bit more exciting if there'd been a bit of lemon juice, and maybe a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. But the berries themselves hold a lot of flavor and I appreciate the minimalism. 

When it came time to form the crust, the technique's pretty much: divide into small balls (I made a double crust's portion, then split each into four balls), roll out into circles, fill half, dot with butter, then moisten the edges, fold over and press to seal. I had some trouble sealing mine, as the pictures will show, and juice leaked out in a big way. It was important to put down parchment paper or these might still be stuck to the baking sheet. I made a bit of a mistake: realizing that these might not be as sweet as I wanted, I brushed the tops of the turnovers with egg yolk (good decision!) mixed with agave (bad decision!). Agave apparently browns instantly, which means my turnovers look like they were basted with soy sauce. The flavor was fine though. 

I had quantity problems: I wound up with too many discs of dough and far too many berries. So now they're in the freezer awaiting a future pie.

And, now, the photos:

Mixed berries.

Mixed berries, sweetened and thickened:

A lump of whole-wheat dough:

Filling the pie. 

A messy baking sheet full of yum.

Excessively browned from agave nectar, but otherwise successful!

Packed in a Ziploc to take to work: