Rhubarb pie
Makes 2 x 18cm pies
Ingredients
970g rhubarb, leaves trimmed, cut into 2.5cm pieces
270g raw sugar, plus extra for sprinkling 35g cornflour (cornstarch)
3g fine salt
1 quantity of khorasan pie dough, formed into a shell, with lid or strips (see below) 1 egg, lightly beaten
Method
Combine the rhubarb and raw sugar in a large mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, drain the liquid from the rhubarb into a saucepan, reserving 1⁄4 cup (60ml) in a separate bowl. Add the cornflour and salt to this reserved rhubarb liquid and mix with a spoon to create a slurry.
Place the saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid warms to around 80°C , then stir in the cornflour slurry and return to a simmer, simmering gently until the mixture is clear and thickened.
Remove from the heat, add the rhubarb pieces and stir to coat, then cool to room temperature.
Heat the oven to 170°C. Add the cooled filling to the unbaked pie shell.
Place the circular lid on top, crimping the edge where the two pieces of pastry meet.
Brush the lid with the beaten egg, then sprinkle the whole top of the pie generously with raw sugar. Finally, cut a hole in the centre (about 1cm) with a small, sharp knife to allow steam to escape while the pie bakes.
Bake for 50–60 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for about 1 hour. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire cooling rack for a further 10 minutes before serving.
Sweet khorasan pie dough
2 pie tins, 18cm in diameter
One of the golden rules of making shortcrust pastry such as this is to avoid overdeveloping the dough, otherwise you won’t get the flakiness that makes it so desirable. Applecider vinegar is your secret weapon in achieving that texture. It has a counteractive effect on gluten development, so will prevent any toughness from creeping in. More importantly, it also adds a lovely tart edge to sweet items. With the nutty flavour of the khorasan, you’ll find this recipe tastes a little different from your average shortcrust; although we use it for pies, it’s also a great base for sable biscuits and tarts, including chocolate or caramel.
A couple of things to keep in mind: it’s really crucial that you have large, almost coinsized, shards of butter through the dough. Then when you’re mixing the dough, bring it just beyond still being raggedy and falling apart — overmixing destroys the flakiness you get from the big pieces of butter.
Ingredients
460g Unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
200g Filtered water
770g Khorasan flour or baker’s flour will also give a fine result.
8g Fine pink salt
20g Applecider vinegar
115 Raw sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
Method
Your first priority is to chill all the ingredients that need to be cold. Dice the butter into roughly 2cm cubes, then place it in the fridge for 40 minutes to 1 hour (if you’re short on time, you can get away with half that time). Measure the water into a large jug and also place it in the fridge.
Add the flour and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the chilled butter and begin to combine things by squeezing the butter and dry ingredients together with your fingertips. The flour will start to coat the butter and, after a couple of minutes, the whole mix will start to look shaggy. It’s important not to overmix the dough, so keep an eye on things; when it’s ready, you should be able to see discs of butter coated in flour.
Remove the chilled water from the fridge. Add the vinegar and sugar to the water and whisk them all together thoroughly so the sugar dissolves.
Create a well in the centre of your shaggy flourbutter mix, and pour in half the vinegar mixture. Start to incorporate the shaggy dough with your hand, working first in the centre, then slowly working outwards towards the edge of the bowl. As a dough begins to form, gradually add the rest of the liquid. You may not need it all; this is a dough that should look on the dry side, but once you bake it, the coarse bits of butter will release moisture, so it’s better to add less liquid now. It should still look scraggly.
Once the pastry has just come together (again, avoid overmixing), you should be able to see the shards of butter in it. This will be your flakiness. Form the dough into a loose rectangle, cover well with plastic wrap or a bag and refrigerate for 1 hour to rest.
Remove the dough from the fridge, dust your bench with flour and, with the longest side facing you, start rolling out the dough with a floured rolling pin or wine bottle. Continue rolling until you start to see the edge of the dough form cracks. As soon as this happens, rotate the dough 90 degrees.
Continue with this rolling and rotating method until you’ve rolled the dough to 3mm thick. As you’re rolling, make sure that the dough isn’t sticking to the bench and that it’s not getting sticky or warm on your rolling pin. If it is, transfer it to the freezer on a tray for a few minutes (no more than 5 minutes), to firm back up.
Once the dough is rolled out, take your pie tin and place it upside down on top of the dough to use as a cutting guide. Cut around the pie tin with a sharp knife, ensuring you’ve added 2.5 cm of buffer around the circumference to allow for shrinkage. You should easily get two pie cases out of this recipe, or you can make a lid or a lattice.
To make a lid, roll about 200g of pastry to 2mm thickness, in a circular shape.
Place an empty pie tin on your pastry (rightway up) and cut around it like a template, then take this piece of dough, put it on a tray and place it in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
To cut strips for a lattice, gather up the dough scraps and form them into a ball, then chill for 5 minutes in the freezer (if you’re baking the same day; otherwise freeze it and thaw before use). Roll out the scraps into a rectangle, 3mm thick. With a sharp knife, cut strips about 2.5cm wide and set aside, covered with a tea towel.
Set the pie shell(s) and/or the lid aside
(if you’ve made two shells and don’t want to bake two pies now, freeze one shell).
Heat the oven to 170°C. Grease the inside of your pie tin (I like to use the packaging that’s left over from the diced butter). Line the tin with one of the pastry shells, pushing it into the edges gently with your thumbs, then gently up against the walls of the tin. At this point you can leave the pie shell in the fridge overnight (covered) if you like and you can roll out and cut the lattice the next day.
Fill the pie with your chosen filling. Follow above recipe.
I’ve suggested making this pie with a lid, but there’s no reason why you can’t use a lattice pattern on top here.