The Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Pie is one of the most flavorful deep dish pies there is. This pie is a staple and symbol of early summer in Southwestern Ontario. The sweetness of the strawberries balanced with the tartness of the rhubarb, packed in a beautiful flaky pie crust. Enough to make you salivate.
I never have had this kind of fruit pie until I moved to this part of the world. It was a revelation to me and an instant love. I am used to all sorts of wonderful European-style pastries that I grew up with. Some of them are also made with fruit fillings like strudels, tortes, various cakes and pies. Pies are usually made with phyllo-type pastry. The closest it comes to a flaky pastry type crust that I can remember is perhaps a crust style used for “Lazy Apple Pie” that I covered in earlier blog post. Rhubarb was also a new plant to me that I have never heard of before, much less had a chance to try it.
Strawberry Rhubarb pies also can be found at the local farmer’s market or in grocery stores and they are relatively inexpensive. However, in my opinion, the taste is nowhere near one that is made at home. In homemade pies, there are no fillers, additives nor margarine. Instead there are: ripe and sweet fresh fruit, butter, organic flour and sugar. It is hard to see or explain the value of it unless you try it. The difference is immense and worth every bit of effort in making it.
The recipe for the pie crust and crumble I adapted from a trusty resource “The Pie and Pastry Bible“. This is a great resource with a wealth of knowledge but not as easy to navigate. The instructions are not sequential and deeper study and flipping back and forth through the book is often required before the recipe is completed. Since in the book she did not have a recipe for the strawberry rhubarb filling (strangely enough), I adapted the recipe for the filling from another food blog. The combination of the two was very successful and turned into a marvelous pie.
Within a week I made two versions of this pie, one using chilled water and another using sour cream as a moistener. The sour cream version wins hands down. The crust is much more tender and flaky. It is important to keep everything cold as the dough is made, to prevent the butter from softening. This dough recipe can be used with any other type of fruit filling.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 55 minutes |
| Passive Time | 1.5 hours |
| Servings |
servings
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- 128 g unsalted butter cold
- 214 g pastry flour
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 59-73 g sour cream
- 350-450 g sliced rhubarb about 6 mm (1/4") thick
- 350 g sliced strawberries
- 143 g granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 20 g light brown sugar
- 12.5 g granulated sugar
- 33 g walnuts or pecan halves
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 47 g all purpose flour
- 42 g unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
Ingredients
The Crust
The Filling
The Crumble (Streusel Topping)
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- Divide the butter into two parts, 42 g and 86 g. Cut each part into approximately 20 mm (3/4") cubes. Wrap each part and put 42 g in the freezer and 86 g in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Place flour, salt, baking powder into a large freezer Ziploc bag and freeze for at least 30 minutes.
- Place a medium mixing bowl in the freezer to chill for about 30 minutes.
- Take another medium size mixing bowl and mix together chilled flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Add the 86 g refrigerated portion of butter and cut into the mix using a pastry blender until it resembles a coarse meal.
- Put the flour mix and 42 g frozen portion of the butter into a large freezer Ziploc bag. Expel any air from the bag and close it. Use a rolling pin to flatten the butter into flakes. Put in the freezer for 15 min, until butter is firm.
- Empty the bag, scraping the sides of the bag into the chilled mixing bowl.
- Add the sour cream to the mixture and toss around with wooden spoon until somewhat incorporated. Knead with your hands briefly until just incorporated. Work as fast as you can to prevent softening the dough.
- Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper, big enough to be able to roll the dough circle on with a diameter of 305 mm (12").
- Take out the chilled dough disc from the fridge and roll out the dough with a rolling pin on top of the parchment paper, working from the center out. Keep rotating the paper to make the dough circle as even as possible. Work quickly to prevent the dough softening. The final rolled dough circle will be 305 mm (12") with thickness of about 3 mm (1/8"). This dough size is suitable for 229 mm (9") deep dish baking pan.
- Transfer the dough into the 229 mm (9") baking pan. Turning the parchment paper upside down, carefully peel off the paper. Fit the dough gently to the pan without stretching. Trim off any dough that overhangs the edge of the pan and flute the edges. Cover with plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator.
- In a large bowl combine rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and cornstarch. Mix well.
- In a food processor, pulse together the sugars, nuts, and cinnamon until the nuts are coarsely chopped.
- Add the butter, flour, vanilla and salt and pulse until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Empty the content into a small bowl and with fingertips, lightly pinch together, forming small clumps.
- Position the baking rack at the bottom third of the oven, preheat the oven to 205 °C (400 °F).
- Make a foil ring to protect the the crimped edges of the crust from burning. The ring will be 10" diameter with a hole of about 4".
- Pour the strawberry/rhubarb mixture evenly into the crust.
- Place the pie in the oven and bake for 50-55 minutes. After 15 minutes of baking, put the foil ring over the pie. After 35 minutes of baking, spread the crumble over the whole pie, put the foil ring back on the pie and return to the oven. It is critical to add crumble in the last 15-20 min of baking. Longer baking will make the crumble taste bitter.
- Let the pie cool completely before cutting.
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