Fall is here. Or at least the pumpkin lattes have returned to Starbucks and school is starting up again. Orientation - the same old boring lectures from last year and the year before - began this week, and Carsten and I thought we had better mark the end of (my) summer with something fun. So Saturday we hosted a bbq, in honor of summer ending. Friends, good bbq, food brought by all, ice cream sandwiches made by Clare, another good girls vs. boys round of jeopardy, and some all-American pies: the perfect way to end summer with a blast.
I decided to try a new recipe for the pie crust, even though I was really happy with how the last one turned out. Both pies were absolutely delicious. I had pie the next morning for breakfast. And then again later that day for lunch. If I hadn't sent people home with leftovers, this would have continued for far too long ;) thanks to smittenkitchen, where I found both wonderful pie crust recipe (which came from America's Test Kitchen), and a delicious apple pie filling recipe. Having never before made a strawberry rhubarb pie, I searched for recipes until I found one that looked promising at epicurious, which I referred to just for the pie filling.
The only changes I made to the recipes were out of necessity. As I was putting together the pie crusts, not only did I finally come to the conclusion that I will buy a food processor next time I go to BB&B, but I ran out of flour. Sigh. I was so close. In the end, I substituted just 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour into each pie crust, and to my relief, it tasted wonderful. In fact, I will probably do it again in the future. The crust was amazing. It was also necessary to substitute whole wheat flour for normal flour in the filling of the apple pie, and as the grocery store didn't have McIntosh apples in stock, I grabbed Gala instead.
Lattice Pie Crust (non-lattice ingredients in parentheses)
Ingredients
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (2 1/2 cups, non-lattice)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
7 Tbs all-vegetable shortening, chilled (8 tablespoons, non-lattice)
10 Tbs unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (12 tablespoons, non-lattice)
10 Tbs ice water (6 to 8 tablespoons, non-lattice)
eggwash: 1 egg and 1 tsp water
Procedure
Pulse flour, salt and sugar in a food processor fitted with steel bald until combined. Add shortening and process until mixture has texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture; cut butter into flour until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, with butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Turn mixture into medium bowl.
Sprinkle 8 tablespoons ice water over mixture. With blade of rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on dough with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 2 tablespoons more ice water if it will not come together. Divide dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. (If possible, weigh pieces. They should register 16 ounces and 14 ounces.) Flatten larger piece into a rough 5-inch square and smaller piece into a 4-inch disk; (If for a non-lattice, double crust pie, these pieces should be even in weight and both round) wrap separately in plastic and refrigerator at least 1 hour or up to 2 days before rolling.
Note: Since I haven't yet purchased a food processor, I did this by hand, using a pastry cutter. If you use this method, it takes a while longer, so it's harder to keep everything as cold as it needs to be. So to make things easier, combine the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl, and chill it in the freezer, along with the shortening, for about half an hour. This will keep your crust from getting too warm while you work it.
Apple Pie Filling
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs Granny Smith apples, about 3 medium
2 lbs McIntosh apples, about 4 large (I used 1 1/2 lbs Gala apples)
1 Tbs juice
zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cups plus 1 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
Procedure
Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 500°F. Remove larger disk of dough from the refrigerator, and roll dough on lightly floured work surface into a 12-inch disk. Transfer the dough to a 9 1/2-inch deep dish pie pan by rolling dough around rolling pin and unrolling over the pan or by folding dough in quarters, then placing dough point in center of pie plate and unfolding. Working around circumference of the pan, ease dough into pan corners by gently lifting dough edges with one hand while pressing around pan bottom with other hand. Leave dough that overhangs lip of plate in place; refrigerate dough-lined pie plate.
Peel, core and cut apples in half, and in half again width-wise; cut quarters into thin slices and toss with lemon juice and zest. In a medium bowl, mix 3/4 cup sugar, flour, salt and spices. Toss dry ingredients with apples. Turn fruit mixture, including juices, into chilled pie shell and mound slightly in center.
Roll out second piece of dough to 12-inch disk and place over filling. Trim top and bottom edges to 1/2-inch beyond pan lip. Tuck this rim of dough underneath itself so that folded edge is flush with pan lip. Flute edging or press with fork tines to seal. Cut a few slits in the top of the pie. If pie dough is very soft, place in freezer for 10 minutes. Brush egg white onto top of crust and sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
Place pie on a baking sheet into the oven and lower oven temperature to 425°F. Bake until top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate pie and reduce oven temperature to 375°F; continue baking until juices bubble and crust is deep golden brown, 35-45 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack; cool until just warm to the touch, at least 3 hours.
Note: I used the non-lattice approach for the apple pie, as smittenkitchen said the lattice tends to make her apple pies too dry. But since Strawberry Rhubarb can often bee very runny, I deicded to use the lattice approach for that pie.
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 pounds untrimmed)
1 lb strawberries, hulled and halved (about 3 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
Procedure
Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and toss to coat the fruit evenly. Prepare the pie as in the procedure above. To make a lattice pie crust, see instructions here.
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