Apple and Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients
Pastry
2 cups plain flour
¾ cup self-raising flour
185g unsalted butter
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 egg
¼ cup water 
1 tbs milk

Filling
30g unsalted butter
6 small Granny Smith apples
¼ cup caster sugar
6 stalks of rhubarb
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method
1. Sift together the flour and self raising flour, then chop the butter into small pieces and combine with the flour.
2. Using your fingers, gently rub/mash the butter into the flour to combine the mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, or until there are no noticeable chunks of butter remaining.
3. Stir in the sugar.
4. Beat the egg with a tablespoon of water, then drizzle into the flour mixture and begin kneading the dough. Add the milk and any more water if necessary.
5. Once the mixture forms a dough, wrap it up and keep it in the fridge in the meantime.
6. Peel and core the apples, then chop them into 2-3cm chunks. Slice the stalks of rhubarb into 2-3cm as well!
7. In a pan, melt the butter, then add the apples and sugar. Cook on low heat until the sugar has dissolved - takes just a few minutes.
8. Add the cinnamon and rhubarb, and continue to cook on low heat for another 5 minutes or until the apple and rhubarb have become soft. Drain any excess liquid (or save it - makes a nice syrup!)
9. Preheat oven to 170°C, fan forced.
9. Divide the dough into two parts, and roll one part out into a rough circle that would fit the bottom and sides of your tin. Dimensions of my tin -18cm diameter x 5cm depth (around 1.5L).
10. Place the rolled out dough into the tin and scoop the filling onto the dough, filling the tin.
11. Roll out the other half of the dough, then cut the dough into strips - the width is up to you (mine are around 4cm in width). This is simply for the lattice design for the top of the pie...if you're too lazy, just roll the dough into a circle and cover the pie.
12. To create the lattice, lay down enough strips to cover your pie, leaving a small gap between the strips. Fold back every second strip and lay down another strip. perpendicularly. Unfold the strips, then fold back the alternate strips and once again, lay down another strip perpendicularly. Repeat this process until the pie has been covered. Since I'm not great at explaining, a detailed explanation with pictures can be found here.
13. Cut off the excess pastry around the edges, press together the edges and use a fork to create a pattern along the edge of the pie.
14. Lightly beat an egg and brush the top of the pie - this gives the pie a shiny golden colour.
15. Bake in the oven for around 35 minutes.



YUMM look at all the rhubarb juices and the slightly melted icecream...I wish I could tell you it was delicious, but I've come down with a cold and completely lost my sense of taste and smell. Guess I'll just have to make this again some time when I can actually enjoy it!