Welcome to yet ANOTHER post about rhubarb! Three out of four of my last (very sporadic) posts have, in fact, covered rhubarb. But I could not NOT share this one, for two reasons. First, it’s your absolute last chance to get fresh rhubarb and you should be taking advantage of it while you can. And second, I made this pie twice in the past 2 weeks – once for myself and once for a dinner party – and my friends went nuts for it. It’s seriously one of the absolute best pies I’ve ever made.
A word on crust. My mom and sister and the most masterful pie bakers I’ve ever met, and I’ve always struggled to make perfect pies. They both use the same all-butter crust recipe and it turns out flaky and amazing every single time. Mine turn out flaky and pretty good some of the time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched them do it, but my pie crust is just not the same. Then I discovered the Magpie cookbook.
This is my new favorite crust. This calls for mostly butter but also a bit of vegetable shortening, and you freeze both in chunks. Shortening always makes for a super flaky crust and great texture, but this is the best of both worlds with butter flavor! It has turned out perfectly for me every time and boosted my pie confidence by a million. I highly recommend you give this a shot if you are scared of pie crust. I think it will tame your fears.
And now…the filling. Wowza! It’s super easy- a pound of blueberries, a pound of sliced rhubarb, some sugar (not too much), some ground up instant tapioca (use a spice or coffee grinder for this), vanilla extract and the secret ingredient- rosewater! It’s a very subtle addition but adds a depth to the pie that your guests won’t be able to put their finger on and makes for a scrumptious filling.
I served this pie at a dinner party for 7 over the weekend (I decided to start hosting regular dinner parties for all my favorite ladies to get to know each other) and it followed a literal Korean feast which I mostly made myself (more to come on that). Summer might be over, but entertaining season never is – and neither is pie season! Let’s all turn to some braises and roasts, and swap out our pie fillings for something that screams “autumn.”
Ingredients
- 312g / 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 28g / 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 6g / 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 170g / 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes and frozen
- 60g / 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, preferably in baking stick form, frozen, cut into 1/4-inch pieces, and put back in the freezer
- 130g / 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon ice-cold water
- 1 lb. / 453g blueberries
- 1 lb. / 453g rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon rosewater
- 1 cup / 192g granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 cup / 48g finely ground instant tapioca
- 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons sanding sugar or coarse raw sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- First make the crust (you need to start a day in advance!). Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse the machine 3 times to blend. Scatter the frozen butter cubes over the flour mixture. Pulse the machine 5 to 7 times, holding each pulse for 5 full seconds, to cut all of the butter into pea-size pieces. Scatter the pieces of frozen shortening over the flour-and-butter mixture. Pulse the machine 4 more 1-second pulses to blend the shortening with the flour. The mixture will resemble coarse cornmeal, but will be a bit more floury and riddled with pale butter bits (no pure-white shortening should be visible).
- Turn the mixture into a large mixing bowl and make a small well in the center. If you find a few butter clumps that are closer to marble size than pea size (about 1/4 inch in diameter), carefully pick them out and give them a quick smoosh with your fingers. Pour the cold water into the well. Use a curved bowl scraper to lightly scoop the flour mixture up and over the water to help get the absorption started. Continue mixing by scraping the flour up from the sides and bottom of the bowl into the center, rotating the bowl as you mix and occasionally pausing to clean off the scraper with your finger or the side of the bowl, until the mixture begins to gather into clumps but is still very crumbly. If you are working in very dry conditions and the ingredients remain very floury and refuse to clump together at this stage, add another tablespoon of ice-cold water.
- Lightly gather the clumps with your fingers and use your palm to fold over and press the dough a few times, until it just begins to come together into a single large mass. It will be a raggedy wad, moist but not damp, that barely holds together; this is exactly as it should be.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal portions, gently shape each portion into a flat disk 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Chill the dough for AT LEAST 8 hours, or up to 3 days.
- Once the dough has chilled, retrieve one disk from the refrigerator. Lightly flour a smooth work surface and a rolling pin. Give the dough a couple of firm squeezes and unwrap it to set on the floured work surface.
- Set the pin crosswise on the dough and press down firmly, making a nice deep channel across the full width of the disk. Turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat, making a second indentation, forming a plus sign.
- Use your rolling pin to press down each of the wedges, turning the dough 45 degrees each time. This will give you the beginnings of a thick circle.
- Now, rolling from the center outward and rotating the dough a quarter turn to maintain a circular shape, roll the dough out to a 13-inch circle with an even thickness of 1/4 inch. Set your 9-inch pie pan alongside the circle of dough. Brush off any loose flour, carefully fold the dough circle in half, transfer it to the pan and unfold.
- At this point the dough will be lying across rather than fitted into the pan. Now, without stretching the dough, set the dough down into the pan so that it is flush up against the sides. Trim the overhang, if needed, to 1 inch all the way around. Cover the bottom crust with plastic wrap and put the pan in the refrigerator while you roll the dough for the top shell.
- Fetch the second disk of dough from the refrigerator and roll it out the same way. Fold the circle of dough in half, carefully transfer it to a parchment-lined baking sheet and unfold to lay flat. Slide the baking sheet into the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the center. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, toss the blueberries and rhubarb with the lemon juice, vanilla and rosewater.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, tapioca and salt. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the fruit and toss to coat. Let it sit 10 minutes, then give the mixture another good tossing to thoroughly moisten all of the sugar and tapioca granules.
- Retrieve the prepared bottom crust from the refrigerator. Set the pan on the parchment-lined baking sheet and pour the filling into the shell. Use your index finger to scrape some of the syrupy fruit juices off the sides of the mixing bowl and generously moisten the top edge of the shell.
- Fetch the prepared top crust from the refrigerator, fold it in half and carefully lift it onto the top of the pie. Unfold the dough, center it on the pie and trim the edge to a 1-inch overhang all the way around.
- Pinch the two edges of dough together, roll outward and under to form a ledge and tuck the edge inside the lip of the pie pan. Crimp the edge all the way around.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water. Lightly brush the top of the pie with the egg wash and sprinkle with the sanding sugar. Use a small, sharp knife to cut 4 slits, each about 2 inches long, toward the center of the dough.
- Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake the pie 25 minutes, then rotate the baking sheet, lower the oven temperature to 350F and bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until the juices bubble up through the vent holes. Tent the top with foil if the crust starts to over-brown.
- Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the pie cool and set uncovered, at room temperature, overnight (or up to 3 days) before slicing and serving.
Notes
From Magpie
