Pie--Step-by-Step Crust and a Rhubarb Filling

We have a lot of chances to make pie.  Take one!

 As I write online articles for examiner.com (St. Paul Entertainment--Food and Drink), I am often working on dishes, meals, or recipes for foods that are in season or are being featured at farmer's market.  The past couple of weeks, rhubarb has played a large role in my market shopping and I wrote up the recipe for a rhubarb pie for them this week.  As I worked on the recipe (and it was no work to eat the pie, you'll see), I kept Dinner Place readers in mind and took lots of pictures of making the crust and putting the pie together.

Rhubarb--Perfect spring vegetable, but dispose of leaves safely, they're full of oxalic acid and are poisonous.

For whatever reason, many perfectly good cooks shy away from baking  pie.  Maybe they're not bakers.  Or they tried it once and it was a mess (and so was my first pie) or they tried it twice and had to throw away a crust (so does every pie baker, no matter how experienced), etc.  I have a method (and an alternate) that I'm sold on and hope you'll try.  You will be the hit of your group of friends even if the pie crust has some lumps or pieces missing...people just love pie and will love you for making it.  Soon, you'll be a champion pie baker (maybe), but your pies will get eaten all the way up that learning curve.

As a solo cook, a pie is a challenge.  You'll either eat a piece every day or two (storing the remainder in the refrigerator) or you'll make pie when you have a reason to take something to someone's house or to a potluck.  There are individual pies and, if you have tiny pie plates (the kind children bake with) or ovensafe bowls (perfect for pie for one) or even ovensafe mugs, you can make pie just for you.

This pie crust is made in the food processor. If you'd like to make a crust by hand, watch this.

Coming home in my basket

  Here's the process in photographs.  My crust is made in the Cuisinart Food Processor.

Flour, salt, sugar, and butter mixed until combined until pea-sized and smaller pieces.

Iced water added. Processed until just coming together.

Meantime, chop the rhubarb into about 1/2" pieces.

Take dough out of bowl, divide in half.  Put half in frig and press other half between 2 sheets of waxed paper.

Roll out from center until more than big enough for pie plate. Put plate upside down on crust to measure.

Flip dough over and roll quickly-once!-with rolling pin to release dough from waxed paper.

Gently peel that side's paper off.

Turn dough over onto pie plate and carefully pull the other sheet of paper off.

Gently press dough down into pie plate as evenly as possible.   Edges should hang over.

Alternate method:  Dust counter, dough and pin well with flour and roll your dough out from the center.

Into the pan and crimp edges.

Fill with rhubarb mixture and dot with butter.  The butter and the flour in the rhubarb will create the thickener.

Take that top crust and loosely roll it around your rolling pin.

Lift it on to  the pie, being careful of placement so you don't have to do it twice.

There, it's on and covered and just needs trimming.

Trim evenly with sharp knife or scissors. (I like to make pie crust cookies out of extra dough.)

Seal or crimp edges quickly; don't over work dough.

I like to make a pretty edge. You can press it down with the tines of a fork, too.  Or leave it simply crimped--pinched together.

Make slits in top crust for steam to vent.  I like designs!

Place on a rimmed sheet in case of boil overs.

It's done when it's browned and bubbling through slits. Glass pie plates help you see if it's done.

So close and yet so far away.  This must cool nearly completely or you'll cut it and have a sea of filling all over.

I love pie.  A little ice cream wouldn't hurt.