Blue-Rhu Pie

When we made Black and Blueberry Pie, I said I didn't like fruit pie, but I liked this pie.  When we made Sour Cherry Pie, I said I didn't like fruit pie, but I liked this one.  Now we're on to Blue Rhu Pie, and I guess I can't say I don't like fruit pies, because this one was delicious.  Now I'll have to say I don't like fruit pies except for Rose's, which taste like real fruit and have a delicious crust.  Now I wish there were more fruit pies in the book!

I bought some pastry flour from King Arthur.  I usually use the mix of flours that Rose recommends as an alternative to pastry flour, so I was excited to have the real thing.

In all my years of hating pie crust, I've never made one that was so easy to roll out.  I don't know if it was the pastry flour, or the plastic wrap on top, or the rolling pin that I actually like to use--but something made this work.

Even before I cut off the edges to make a circle, it had a definite circular shape, and not the choppy, raggedy rhomboid that I usually end up with.

When Woody first showed me the trick with the cake pan, to invert the crust into the pie pan, I have to admit I rolled my eyes, and thought, if there's a way to make an extra step and dirty an extra dish, Rose will find it.  But now I think it's an easy way to get the crust into the pie pan intact.  And besides, Jim usually does the dishes.

I wonder if we all have rhubarb memories from our childhoods.  (Except for people who had a rhubarbless childhood, of course).  My brothers and sisters and I all loved to eat rhubarb raw, which I don't understand because it's astoundingly sour when it's raw.  I couldn't bring myself to eat a piece of it now--it makes me shudder to think of eating it.  I also liked to eat handfuls of salt.

I have no problem eating blueberries.  It actually seems a shame to cook them.

I didn't think the specified amount of sugar would be enough to sweeten the rhubarb, but I didn't want it too sweet, so I compromised by adding an extra 5 grams of sugar.  "Five grams?" Jim said.  "You're quite the rule breaker."  

The cooked rhubarb and blueberries are delicious all by themselves!  If I hadn't already made the pie dough, I would have been tempted to stop right there.

I was a little disappointed that the layer of fruit was so shallow.  It seemed like we needed more fruit, but I figured Rose had decided on the exact right amount of fruit for the crust.  I think if I make this again, I'll try about 1 1/2 times the amount and see how that works out.

I wasn't happy when I saw it was another lattice pie, but there were fewer strips and it was much easier to put together this time.  

When I cleaned out my baking equipment drawer, I found this silicone pie protector--much easier to use than the foil strips that never stay on the pie.  In fact, this worked so well that I was afraid the edges would look too white, so I removed the silicone for the last 10 minutes of baking.  That was an error in judgment because the crust got too dark.  I also used the convection setting, and ended up overbaking by about 5 minutes.

So the pie ended up getting a little darker than I would have liked.  It was still excellent.  I invited the people we're traveling to England with to come to our house and talk about what we're going to do in Keswick.  (It's very entertaining to say Keswick because, of course, it's not pronounced like it's spelled--it's more like Kezzick, which you have to say with a very bad fake British accent).  We ate pie while we were talking, but we stopped talking and just ate.   

I don't think we'll get pie like this in Keswick.