Rehearsal strawberry rhubarb pie

Here is my strawberry rhubarb pie recipe from J and Erika's rehearsal dinner. Many of the technique secrets hidden in the crust recipe I learned or adapted from my Mom who makes the best pie crust.
Some of them I picked up thru trial and error via Fine Cooking or Cook's Illustrated. 

This is how you make the best pie crust: Keep it cold, work without interruption, and don't add too much water or over mix.  Easy!

Crust:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter, cut into 32 small cubes.

1 tbsp white vinegar over ice plus water to make 1/2 cup

Cut up cold butter, place back in fridge while you mix flour, salt and sugar. Use a measuring cup to prepare vinegar water ice solution.  Drop butter into the flour a few pieces at a time, burying them as you go until they're all in there. Working quickly, use pastry cutter or two knives to cut and smear the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. Use a spoon to drizzle a little of the ice vinegar water over the flour and use a fork to flick it in and stir until it begins to form a shaggy mass.  You might use all the water, or you might not, or you might need a little more. Dump the mass onto plastic wrap and use the plastic to form it into a flattish mound.  Refrigerate.

Filling:

3 cups chopped rhubarb

2 1/2 cups sliced strawberries* 

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp lemon zest

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375'F.  Mix it all up.

Divide the dough in two.  Roll out one piece for bottom on a well floured surface.  Use your rolling pin to transfer to pie crust to pie plate... do not trim yet. Roll out top dough so that it's ready to go before adding filling to bottom crust.  Add filling to crust and dot with butter.  Arrange top dough over filling, pressing gently with hands to close any space around the filling and so that the top crust makes contact with the bottom crust.  Use a knife to trim top and bottom dough together, using the edge of the pie plate as a guide.  Using the back of a knife, (I like a metal butter knife,) flute the dough by pressing the butt end into the edge of the dough towards the pie and gently pinching it, all the way around, thereby sealing the dough in a decorative way.   Lastly, you can brush (or flick, if you don't have a brush) the top crust with milk (or water or cream or egg wash), then sprinkle it generously with sugar and maybe a dusting of cinnamon.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes at 375.  Reduce temperature to 325 and continue baking for about an hour, until it is bubbling and well browned.  If crust looks as though it might burn, slide a piece of foil over the pie to protect it from the top heat element. You'll probably need to place a cookie sheet under the pie (like on the rack below) to catch drips and you can line it with parchment if you want for easier clean-up.  

Let the pie rest and cool before slicing.  Enjoy!

*Thanks to Asan for slicing all those fresh Ontario strawberries!