Blueberry Rhubarb Pie with Whole Red Fife Pastry
Blueberry Rhubarb has become one of my favourite flavour combinations. For this iteration I wanted to try using Bravetart’s whole wheat pastry, in my case using whole red fife and less water than her recipe calls for. I also wanted to try cooking the filling ahead of the bake so that there would be no chance of a soggy bottom with this very wet filling. The filling was completely cooled before using. For a regular pie you will have left over filling which is great on ice cream or on your toast. For a deep dish pie you will have the right amount.
For the top crust I wanted to try something I saw somewhere. I rolled the pastry into a large rectangle and then rolled that out into a tight roll. I think cut 3 mm thick swirls of the pastry, theses were laid on top of the filling to make what I think is an attractive pie crust. The extra can be baked topped with cinnamon, sugar and an egg wash as little treats to taste your pastry while your pie is baking and filling your home with wonderful scents.
Did you know that adding coriander to your blueberry will bring out more blueberry flavour? What is it about linalool specifically that makes blueberries and coriander such a great combination? Sater broke it down for me like this: “In the case of blueberries and coriander, the linalool present is mostly the same type. In a nutshell, there are two different forms of linalool that can be produced in nature, and they actually have different odor properties. The type that predominates both the blueberry profile and the coriander profile is the (S)-(+)- linalool, which has an odor that can be described as green, rosy, floral, and citrusy.”
Since blueberries and coriander share the same type of floral linalool flavor, then, our brains seem to interpret this flavor as the same. Sure, coriander has other flavor and aroma compounds, but combining it with blueberries will layer the linalool, making those blueberries sing.
For a double crusted pie.
166 g all purpose flour
173 g whole red fife flour (whole wheat can be used)
23 g sugar
6 g salt
18 tablespoons butter unsalted
210 g cold water add a little by little tossing with a fork just until the dough can barely hold together when pressed.
Filling
2 pounds rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (7 cups)
1 ¼ cups (8 3/4 ounces) sugar
4 cups of blueberries
⅓ cup plus 1 tsp of corn starch
juice and zest of one lemon
1/2-1 teaspoon of ground coriander seed.
Pinch of salt
Comments
It's ingenious to make the top crust with little discs of dough. It's such a unique and beautiful design! I suppose it's easier than weaving strips? It makes me drool! I want a slice, umm..no, I can eat the whole pie!
How does using whole wheat flour change the flavor and mouth feel, if any? Did you do so simply to make a "healthier" dessert?😉
Yippee
Thank you Yippee, the swirls end up being more work than a lattice, but I’m always looking to try something different with my bakes.
I’m hoping that the whole wheat will make a more tender crust. The whole red fife isn’t a super strong tasting wheat and when I ate one of the extra swirls I baked off (forgetting to put sugar on them LOL) it had a slightly more wheaty flavour that I liked.
Benny
And, I'm sure, very tasty, too. I hadn't heard of the blueberry/coriander combination previously, but can see how they ought to play well together. Something to try!
I've been picking blueberries a lot, lately. My dad had planted a dozen bushes on the farm 40-50 years ago. Eleven still survive and this year they have a bumper crop. My sister got eight quarts from just three bushes on Friday and is going back out for more today. On Tuesday, I'll take another turn, as more should be ripe by then. Thanks, Dad!
Paul
Thank you Paul, I read about the coriander blueberry during the winter when I borrowed a pie baking ebook from the library and thought I have to try it next bake. The filling is really delicious with or without the coriander with all the fresh blueberries you’re getting you’ll have to try it.
Benny
Oh my, this sounds so wonderful. What a lovely bake. I love the top, really nice.
And that info about combining coriander with blueberries is a great tip, will try that in the near future. I have been making some tasty blueberry muffins lately in various combinations, and that would mesh really well with those.
Mary
Yes I bet the blueberry muffins with a hint of coriander would really taste good Mary. Let me know what you think if you try it.
Benny
Have got to try that combination too now. Also when you said "coriander" I thought you meant the leaves, the seeds make more sense!
Found it interesting that the flour you chose for this one was the red fife, would have expected it to impart a greater flavour which you don't want to take over, did it have an impact on the flavours?
Great bake, so interesting and different to the usual, from the combination of fillings to the way the top was prepared.
-Jon
Red fife is a relatively mild whole grain and it actually imparts just a bit more wheaty flavor to the crust than you usually taste. The filling is such a potent flavour that it can stand up to the extra flavour from the crust easily.
Thanks for mentioning the coriander, I’ve edited the recipe to be more specific about the coriander, it is definitely the ground seed and not the leaves that you would want in the filling.
Benny
Benny,
Thanks for the tip about the blueberry-coriander connection. I will have to try that as I love blueberries. I also love the little bit of chemistry. I did not expect to see enantiomeric notation on The Fresh Loaf!
Linaool also figures in another fermentation-dependent product—beer. It is one of the flavor and aroma components of hops. The Northern Discovery® cultivar of hops has the highest level of linalool of any hops; it was discovered growing wild in Wisconsin. Pearl Street Brewing in LaCrosse brews a Linalool IPA that is pretty good.
Thank you alcophile, I enjoy a bit of chemistry now and again as well. Now someone over at Breadtopia also mentioned that information about hops when I posted that same information.
Next time add a bit of ground coriander seed to your blueberries when you’re making a blueberry dessert and let me know what you think.
Benny
I love blueberry and rhubarb but I’ve never tried both together.
Up here, wild blueberries are scarce due to the drought and most people are leaving them for the hungry bears. The few that are for sale are exorbitant. As a family, we decided that we could do with cultivated berries for this year. They certainly don’t taste the same but the wild life needs those wild berries more than we do.
Down in Toronto you can only imagine the price of fresh wild blueberries so I never buy them. However, we can get what are supposed to be frozen wild blueberries. For blueberry pies I have read that some pie bakers prefer to mix wild and cultivated blueberries for the best flavour, but for this pie I just bought frozen blueberries. I’m still eating the leftover filling on sourdough toast and I must say the flavour is excellent.
Benny
duplicate
...I wonder if a bit of sugar or a smear of berry juice and sugar before rolling up would give the swirl more definition. If I remember right palmiers are a little bit looser when placed on a sheet to bake. Looser coils and fewer of them might let juice bubble up into the coils. Hmmmm.
Warm blueberry pie and ice cream. I gotta remember the blueberry/coriander combo. Coriander seed is one of the spices I like in rye bread and always did like blueberry jam on top. Now I know why. Thank you.
I like how you think. Yes it would have been nice to bring a bit more colour to the swirls!