After some out of control baking at the beginning of quarantine, I decided to get myself under control by doing the Whole30 at home. For those who aren't familiar with the Whole30, you cut out all dairy, legumes, gluten, non-gluten grains and added sugar for a whopping 30 days, with a 10 day reintroduction period. To be honest, it was the best possible thing I could have done for myself, and honestly for my family, through a particularly stressful time.
By and large, we've made some pretty drastic alterations to how we eat and meal plan and try to stick to a relatively paleo diet. That being said, life is about balance and that means that occasionally you get to eat pie. And not just any pie, but an especially delicious Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.
This was my brother's request for his birthday dessert and I was all too happy to indulge him.
I have been making pies for YEARS, and actually used to have a little pie business when I was in high school called Puddy's Pies, which definitely subsidized my babysitting income quite significantly. With over 30 kinds of pies on my repertoire one of the fan favorites was this strawberry rhubarb. It is tart, fresh and sweet and pairs perfectly with vanilla ice cream.
Strawberry Rhubarb pie
Ingredients:
- 1 batch Double Crust Pastry (click the button below for my double crust dough recipe or feel free to use store bought pie dough)
- 3 cups strawberries, quartered
- 3 cups rhubarb, sliced to about ¼th inch thickness
- ⅓rd cup granulated sugar
- ⅓rd cup light brown sugar
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ¼th cup of All Purpose Flour
- ½ tsp of Vanilla Extract
- Fresh grated Nutmeg to Taste, or around ⅓ tsp powdered
- 1 egg
- splash of whole milk
- Castor or Granulated Sugar (for sprinkling on top)
- All-purpose flour (for rolling out your dough)
Steps:
- Combine strawberries, rhubarb, ⅓rd cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extra, Nutmeg, and ¼th cup all-purpose flour in a large bowl.
- Mix well and let set on counter for around 15 minutes until a syrupy liquid begins to form.
- Preheat your oven to 400f
- Meanwhile, take your pie dough out of the fridge or freezer and cut in half. Put one half back in the fridge and roll out the other half to the size of your pie dish, sprinkling flour on our rolling pin to avoid sticking.
- Carefully lift the rolled-out pie dough onto your pie pan and gently press to form.
*NOTE* If at any point you feel that your pie dough is getting too warm (ie the butter and/or shortening seem to be melting into the flour) put it back into the freezer to let the fat harden back up before you begin working again. Ideally you want to work quickly to make sure that the fat remains in little chunks to ensure you end up with a flaky pastry.
- Take the remaining half of the dough out of the fridge or freezer and cut into even strips for a lattice.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pie filling into the crust base. You will have some liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Pour about half of that over the top of the filling and you can discard the rest. (Or slurp it up, either way...)
- Dot the top of the filling with about 1-2 TBSP diced up cold butter. (This step is optional, but delicious).
- Make a lattice on your pie by first taking several strips of dough and laying them on the top of the pie, leaving small gaps in between.
- To weave your lattice, pull back every other strip and place a new strip of pie dough perpendicular to the strips you have already laid. Replace the strips you folded over and repeat the process, alternating folded strips, until the pie is covered.
- You will then make an egg wash by beating together one egg with a splash of milk.
- Using a pastry brush, apply egg wash to the all visible dough on the pie then generously sprinkle with castor or granulated sugar.
- Pop the pie into your preheated 400f oven for 20 minutes.
- After about 20 minutes of baking, reduce the heat to 350f and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes until your filling is bubbly and your crust is golden brown. At this point, I typically put a pie shield on the crust to prevent it from burning. If you don't have a pie shield you can simply make a ring of foil and place that on the crust.
- When the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown your pie is ready!
- Take your pie out of the oven and ideally let it rest at room temperature for about 3 hours to give the juices time to set.
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