Homemade Gluten Free Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Up until this past weekend, I was a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie virgin. Never made one, never tasted one. Doesn't mean that I haven't thought about it though. Every year, around this time, when rhubarb starts to appear at the store, I wonder about it. I'm always kind of curious about something that looks like celery, but isn't. What is this unusual red stalk?

And then this year, when I casually mentioned to my husband that I might like to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, he shared the following with me: his grandfather used to grow rhubarb for Table Talk Pies and his grandmother made the absolute best, prize-winning Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. And if I was going to attempt making one, he requested that I make a hole in the middle of the top crust, just like Nana Roy did.

I'm always trying to incorporate multi-grain gluten free flours into my gluten free baking. And this time was no different. If I was going to develop a recipe for a Gluten Free Strawberry Rhubarb pie, it was going to have some redeeming ingredients. I started by grinding my own buckwheat (also called kasha). I realize that not everyone wants to grind their own grains, but I couldn't help myself. I found a shopping cart full of half-price buckwheat at a local market and bought six boxes of it. I have a fantastic Family grain mill that I bought from a very reliable online store (Pleasant Hill Grain) so I ground the buckwheat from all six boxes and ended up with a motherlode of buckwheat flour.


Using this pie crust recipe from Cake and Commerce as a jumping off point, I married the buckwheat with a few other gluten free flours and starches and voila, my Gluten Free Strawberry Rhubarb pie was born.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Crust

click here for printable recipe

1/2 cup glutinous rice flour
1/4 cup light buckwheat flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup teff flour
2 tbsp tapioca starch
2 tbsp potato starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
4 oz cold butter or Earth Balance
1/3 cup cold water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Filling
2 1/4 cups sliced rhubarb (about 1”)
2 1/4 cups sliced strawberries
grated rind of one orange
1 tbsp fresh orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
pinch of salt
gluten free pie crust

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To prepare crust, combine dry ingredients (from rice flour through salt) in the bowl of a food processor. Grate the cold butter into the food processor and mix until the dough looks like cornmeal. Keep the processor running and slowly add the water and vanilla and process until well-blended.

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it forms a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 15 minutes. (I put it in the freezer)

Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Put one piece of dough on a piece of parchment paper, cover with a second piece of parchment paper, and roll to your desired size. Completely remove top piece of parchment paper and flip dough over into a pie plate. After you peel the remaining piece of parchment paper from the dough, use it to press the dough into place. By using the paper, the heat from your hand won’t affect the dough. Roll the second dough piece inbetween two pieces of parchment paper and set aside while you fill the pie shell with your filling*. Then cover with the remaining pie dough using the same method as you did with the first piece. Crimp the pie crusts together. I learned how to crimp a pie crust here.

Place unbaked pie on a baking sheet. Bake in a 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. After the first 30 minutes, cover the crimped edge of the pie crust with aluminum foil to prevent it from burning or becoming too crisp. You could also use one of these pie crust shields which works really well.

*To prepare filling, just before you’re ready to roll out the top and bottom crusts, combine all filling ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Nana Roy - I think you would've been proud:).

BTW, this recipe is listed on the Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang's WONDERFUL blog!