Rhubarb Pie

Now that summer is officially underway I've been trying to be a bit more seasonal.  With berries, peaches, and a dozen other goodies finally ripe and readily available I'm excited to branch out a bit. 

One of my co-workers was recently kind enough to offer me rhubarb from his garden.  I love rhubarb, but I've never attempted to make anything with it myself. I had to do a little research just know what was good to eat and what was not, but the baking the pie itself was relatively trouble-free.

I decided to try a new way to flute my crust, since I've always had issues with the sides pulling in or over-baking.  This time I tried pressing the crusts

together vertically instead of pressing them down into one another as I usually do.  There are a few resources online that suggest this leads to less pulling-in since you're not as likely to stretch the dough. I made this particular pattern by shaping the dough around the knuckle of my bent index finger.

I thought the crust turned out great.  The edges weren't overdone and nothing pulled in.

I also washed the top crust in a milk, followed by a sprinkling of sugar.  I think the wash really helped achieve a nice golden crust.  

I personally thought the pie turned out pretty tart, but most of the people I talked to at work thought it was fine.  Knowing that, I probably wouldn't add any more than the 1.5 cups of sugar called for, although some of the recipes I saw called for up to 3 cups of sugar.  It's all a matter of personal taste I guess.

One person mentioned that it was weird to have rhubarb pie without strawberries.  I can't say that I've ever had it that way, but it sounds good!

-Beth