Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Lattice-Topped Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

It was one of my goals this year to make my first pie from scratch A) because I love pie and B) because there is a stigma that comes with making a pie, which is to say that it's easy to mess up. Common pie blunders include a dry or burnt crust, overly wet filling, doughy bottom, etc. I felt ready to take on the challenge. 

To start, I found the perfect recipe on one of my go-to cooking websites, Smitten Kitchen. This recipe was adapted from Bon Appetit, April 1997. I did some adapting myself and found myself in the middle with how long I baked the pie. I used a glass baking dish, so that may account for the difference on why I needed to cook a little longer than the Smitten Kitchen recipe.


Lattice-Topped Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Pie crust ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
10 tablespoons (about) ice water
Pie filling ingredients:
3 1/2 cups 1/2-inch-thick slices trimmed rhubarb (1 1/2 pounds untrimmed)
1 16-ounce container strawberries, hulled, halved (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg yolk beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)

Step one: Make crust. Combine flour, sugar and salt in mixer. Using on/off turns, cut in shortening and butter until coarse meal forms. Blend in enough ice water 2 tablespoons at a time to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; cut in half. Flatten each half into disk. Wrap separately in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Let dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.)



Step two: Make filling. Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine first 7 ingredients in 
large bowl. Toss gently to blend.





Step three: Assemble Pie. Roll out 1 dough disk on floured work surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Trim excess dough, leaving 3/4-inch overhang.


Roll out second dough disk on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Cut into fourteen 1/2-inch-wide strips. Spoon filling into crust. Arrange 7 dough strips atop filling, spacing evenly. Form lattice by placing remaining dough strips in opposite direction atop filling. Trim ends of dough strips even with overhang of bottom crust. Fold strip ends and overhang under, pressing to seal. Crimp edges decoratively.


Brush glaze over crust. transfer pie to baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake pie until golden and filling thickens, about another 40-60 minutes. [The original recipe suggested a total baking time of 1 hour and 55 minutes] Transfer pie to rack and cool completely. Serves 8 (approx).


Step four: Enjoy! 



2 comments:

Nana said...

I have been waiting for this! Glad to welcome the month of May.

Jason said...

I may have to give this one a whirl when i get back next week.