I’ve been talking and thinking about food blogging for a while. So I’ve taken the time and voila! First post. It’s pretty exciting to start something fresh and new. I thought I’d start off nice and easy with a welcoming, homey pie.

My love of pie is pretty serious. Rhubarb and strawberry has always been a favourite combination with my family–that whole sweet and sour thing is so good. Strawberries are beautiful right now and the field rhubarb is deep, ruby red. The kicker is the pastry though. It features spelt flour, which loans a nutty and sweet heartiness. In its flour form, spelt is a whole grain that eases into most all purpose flour-based recipes pretty seamlessly. I’ve kept the filling simple, but a few dried lavender buds or some lime zest folded in would be great in here.

Vegan Rhubarb & Strawberry Pie with Spelt Crust

Vegan rhubarb and strawberry pie is the perfect mix of sweet and sour. Whole spelt flour in the pastry adds an irresistible nutty quality.

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Prep Time: 1 hour hr

Cook Time: 50 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 50 minutes mins

Servings 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients

Pastry

• 1 ⅓ cups whole spelt flour
• 1 ⅓ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) cold vegan butter, diced
• ¼ cup cold non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, diced
• ½ cup ice cold water

Filling

• 3 cups chopped rhubarb
• 3 cups strawberries, stems removed and cut into quarters
• 1 cup cane sugar
• ⅓ cup flour (spelt or all purpose)
• juice from ½ an orange

Notes

• This pastry is a bit dry-seeming since the spelt will soak up quite a bit of the moisture. Just be ginger with your handling, flour all of your surfaces really well and don’t overthink it.

Instructions

• Begin with the pastry. Combine the flours, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to combine. Add the diced vegan butter and shortening, coating the little pieces in the dry mixture as you put it into the bowl (watch out for the blade!). Pulse a couple of times until the butter pieces are the size of small peas (or cut in with a pastry cutter). With the motor running, pour the ice water in through the feed tube until you see the dough forming and sticking together. If it holds when pinched together, it’s ready. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and form into two discs. Wrap both in saran and chill for at least an hour.
• For the filling, combine fruit with sugar, flour and orange juice. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Roll one pastry disc out on a well-floured surface with an equally well-floured rolling pin to a rough 12 inch circle. From the top of the pastry, gently roll it backwards, gathering it onto the rolling pin. Lift and un-roll gathered pastry into the pie dish, loosely draping it over and gently tucking it into the little nooks.
• Place filling into the bottom crust, mounding it in the center a bit. Roll second pastry disc into a slightly smaller circular shape (you may have to patch some holes with stray pieces–this is totally fine). Gently roll it over the top of the filling, using the previous pastry gathering technique. Pinch the edges of both crusts together by crimping, using fork tines, whatever you like. Trim excess from the edges with a paring knife and cut a few steam holes on the top. Apply egg wash if you’re fancy.
• Cover the edges of the pie with some aluminum foil and place in the oven on a parchment lined baking sheet. Immediately turn the oven down to 350°F and bake for around 45-50 minutes, removing the foil in the last 10 minutes or so. Pie is done when the top crust is golden brown and lovely, deep pink juice is seeping out.
• Let the pie cool on a wire rack for at least two hours.

Author: Laura Wright

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegan

Keyword: all purpose flour, cane sugar, rhubarb, shortening, spelt, spelt flour, spring, strawberry, summer, vegan butter