Fresh Peach Pie

 

When we lived in California years ago, we looked forward to the two weeks out of the year that Marie Callender's restaurant offered fresh fruit pies, peach, strawberry, and boysenberry.  We think the boysenberry may be extinct (becoming the olallieberry).  Marie Callender had a signature pie crust that was perfect, and they filled that shell with heaps of fresh fruit, then poured a glaze over it.  Those pies are a distant memory now, but I've tried to replicate them as closely as I can over the years.  When we first moved to State College, there were no good peaches in the grocery stores.  I think they hadn't figured out how to ship them for a reasonable price.  So we'd order those wonderful Oregold peaches from Harry & David's and anxiously await their arrival in August.  Now we can find good peaches for several months in the summer, although you have to be careful.  At the end of the season they look good, but they go from ripe to rotten in record time.  So mid-July is now optimal peach pie time.

The challenge of the pie crust is to have it be strong enough to hold up to the juiciness of the fruit.  I had made a fairly disastrous blueberry pie using a recipe I saw on the Food Network.  Alex Guarnaschelli (the latest winner of the Iron Chef competition) had demonstrated this recipe and it looked delicious, with a thick, solid crust.  However, when I made the crust, I thought the pie dough needed more moisture, and the filling was more like soup.  That may be because there was too much water in the blueberries, or not enough pectin in the preserves.  We all loved the taste of the crust, so I decided to use it here (cutting the recipe in half), with the substitution of vodka for half of the ice water.

The glaze recipe is a modification of an orange glaze that is in the Betty Crocker Cookbook from 1975, one of my first cookbooks.

FRESH PEACH PIE

Crust

4 Tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup (4 ounces) shortening, chilled and cubed
2 1/2 cups (10.625 ounces) AP flour
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup total, ice water + chilled vodka
Nonstick cooking spray

Filling

10-12 peaches, ripened but still firm

Glaze

1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 peach, mashed
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup water

To make the pie crust:

Spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick spray.  I find this is the only way to be sure it will release later on.

Put the butter and shortening cubes on a dish and let them rest in the freezer while you get the rest of the ingredients.  I actually keep the flour in the freezer, especially in the summer when your pie crust needs all the help it can get not to form gluten.

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine.  Add the butter and shortening, and pulse about 5 times, just until it's mixed.  Add the ice water/vodka and pulse another 5 to 8 times just until it starts to come together and no longer looks dry.  If it still looks dry add a little more water.

Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and form it into a flat circle.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Put the dough on a floured surface and roll it out.  I like the method where you keep lifting and turning it so it doesn't stick to the board.

Keep going until it is at least 4 to 5 inches wider than a 9-inch pie pan.  Gently roll the dough onto your rolling pin and lay the dough into the pie plate. Press it into the bottom and the sides of the pan.  Fold the excess dough under along the edge of the pan, then flute the edges.  This is a very thick pie crust, which will help it hold up later on, so don't be alarmed if there is quite a bit of dough to flute.

Refrigerate the pie shell for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Once chilled, prick the pie shell with a fork to allow steam to escape during the baking process.  Spray a piece of parchment paper with nonstick spray, then place it in the pie shell.  Fill it with dry beans.

Bake for 15-17 minutes until the edge is golden and the sides seem firm enough to support themselves.

Remove the weights and parchment very carefully so as not to disturb the crust, and continue to bake until it is golden brown on the inside bottom.  In my oven, it took 12 minutes until the fluting started to brown and I covered it with a pie shield.  Then it took another 7 minutes for the inside bottom to look brown and firm.  Your goal is a firm and crunchy crust, so don't underbake it.

Let the pie shell cool completely before you fill it.

In the meantime (maybe when you first put the pie dough in the refrigerator), make the glaze because it, too, will need to cool to room temperature.

To make the glaze:

Stir together the sugar, salt and cornstarch in a small saucepan.  Gradually stir in the mashed peach, orange juice, lemon juice and water.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil and stir 1 minute.

Remove from heat and cool completely.

Peaches:

The easiest way to peel peaches is to put them in boiling water for 40 seconds,

then immediately move them to an ice bath for 1 minute.

This should cause the peel to slip right off and leave the peaches looking smooth and pretty.

Chop the first 8 or so peaches into chunks (they'll be easier to eat that way), putting them in the pie shell as you go.  Once you have a layer, put a few Tablespoons of glaze over them.

The glaze serves two functions, first to prevent the peaches from browning and the second to give some cohesiveness to the filling.  You may not end up using all of it, but you can always save it for another use.  Continue to drizzle glaze on the peaches as you fill the shell, but use a light hand.

You can continue cutting the peaches into chunks, or for a prettier pie, you can slice the last 4 peaches and lay them in concentric circles on the top.

Now spoon the glaze over the top of the peaches, being sure to completely cover them so they don't turn brown.

In the end, the peaches will spill out all over the plate, but they're the star of the show, so they're entitled.  Top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (or vanilla bean gelato, my new personal favorite), and enjoy.

Last weekend we entertained a couple who are starting jobs at Penn State, Jennie and Chad, so I made the peach pie for them.  Jennie commented that she appreciated the minimal use of the glaze on it, and that it didn't in anyway detract from the taste of the fresh peaches.  Thanks Jennie!