berry rhubarb pie-#18 of 52 pies

 for me, spring is one of the most wonderful times in the year.  the visions of flowers and mushrooms dancing around in my head... planting the garden, pulling weeds, preparing the bee hive for the honey flow, cleaning out the freezer... where did that come from?  well it does need to be done and this weekend, i cleaned mine out-kinda, sorta.  in the process, i found some rhubarb and some raspberries that needed to be used up and when darry asked me to make a pie for our mushroom hiking friends, i decided to use them in the pie.  along with some strawberries and lots of other good things like orange zest, vanilla bean, pumpkin pie spice, cardamom and rosewater, i made a lattice topped pie for our hiking/lunch date with friends.


first, place your bottom crust in the pan and trim it to leave an even 1" of dough all the way around.  pour in the filling.  lattice tops are an easy way to make a pie look fancy.  to keep your sanity, work with part of the dough at a time and don't worry about weaving the strips.  simply laying them out in two layers will be easier and elegant all at the same time.

once you have your second layer of strips on top, carefully roll the edges up to make a raised rim of dough all the way around the edge of the pie plate.

using your fingertips, flute the edges.  finally, brush the strips (not the fluted border or it will darken too much in the oven) with a little egg wash and sprinkle it with some sanding sugar.  into the oven she goes...

berry rhubarb pie

1 (9") pie serving 8

crust

2 2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup shortening-i used a non-hydrogenated shortening found in the health food section of my grocery store.

1/3 cup cold water

1 1/2 tablespoon vinegar-white or cider

berry-rhubarb filling, recipe follows

in a bowl, stir the flour and salt.  cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until it is in small pieces.  add the cold water and vinegar and mix until a smooth dough is achieved.  divide into two pieces but not equal pieces-one should be slightly larger than half the dough.  wrap them and chill them for about an hour.  allow them to soften slightly before rolling them out.  preheat the oven to 350.  roll the smaller piece into a circle and fit it into the pie plate making sure that at least 1" of dough overhangs the edge of the plate.  trim away any parts that are more than 1".  to make it easier to handle, place  the pie plate on a sturdy baking pan that is lined with paper or foil and grease it slightly to prevent the plate from sticking.  make the filling and pour it into the crust.  to make the lattice top, divide the remaining dough into 2 or 3 pieces.  to prevent the dough from toughening, make an effort to roll it into a neat rectangle wide enough to fit the width of the pie.  cut the strips about 3/4" wide to fit the pie and be sure to use the photos above as a reference.  finally, flute the edges and bake the pie for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the juices are bubbling in the center.  allow the pie to rest for at least 4 hours or it will be too runny to serve.  

berry rhubarb filling

2 cups of halved strawberries

1 cup raspberries

1 cup rhubarb-slice about 1/4 inch thick

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1-2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice-or cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/4 of a vanilla bean-seeds scraped out and the pod reserved for another use

2 teaspoons rosewater

toss the berries and rhubarb together-if using frozen, allow them to thaw completely but measure them while frozen.  combine the sugar, cornstarch, orange zest, spices and vanilla and rub them together to disperse them evenly.  toss the fruit and sugar together and add the rosewater-mix to combine and pour into the prepared pie shell.

and as always, if you bake one and send me a photo-i will post it here.  contact me at bakinbabe116@aol.com.  and now if you will excuse me, i think i hear some morels giggling in the woods and i must go find them