Peach Pie

I'm a real traditionalist when it comes to something like a peach pie. I love peaches. I love pie. I don't want a whole lot of stuff getting in the way. So I go for simple, straightforward goodness. That is when I can restrain myself from grabbing a big huge juicy peach, ripping off my shirt and gobbling it over the sink with the juice running down my chin and. . .OK, I'm going to take a breath here.

There, that's better. The first thing I do is make up enough of my favorite pie crust dough. This is the crust my Nana used on her fresh fruit pies.

For a single two crust pie. Feel free to increase the proportions at your discretion. You can't make too much of this stuff and it freezes well.

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tablespoons super rich butter powder, optional* (You can usually find this at a Cake decorating store and, while optional it makes a huge taste difference)
1 cup shortening (or if you're like me and don't give a fuck use Lard)
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ice water


Mix the flours and the butter powder together in a large mixing bowl. Cut in the lard (or shortening) and work until it is in pea sized nuggets.

In another bowl mix the egg, vinegar, salt and ice water until well blended. Then add this to the other stuff. Mix until the dough comes together. Separate into halves (or as many separate crusts as you intend to make) and wrap well with plastic. Refrigerate overnight.

Pie Filling:

8 peaches peeled and sliced (for the peeling do the same thing as you did when canning it should yield about 4 cups of slices)
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup baker's sugar (if using canned peaches omit, but drain the peaches a little)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter (my Care package from Ireland came with butter yippee!)


Set the butter aside and mix all the filling ingredients together well. Each slice should be well coated with cinnamon, sugar and flour.

Take your crusts out of the refrigerator and on a lightly floured surface roll them out to fit your pie pans. I favor deep ceramic ones, but pyrex, glass, metal, they are all good. Put your bottom crusts in the pans and make sure there is at least an 1 1/2" overhang. Fill brimming with peaches. Dot the filling with little chunks of butter. Roll out the top crusts. I like to do about three rollout when I do this. I roll it out very thin, almost translucent, then fold it in on itself, and roll it out again. I do this to get that flakey crust all pie makers dream about. Gently lay the top crusts over the pie. Trim until it matches the overhang of the bottom crust. Pinch the top and the bottom crust together and twist your way all around the pie. When that's done take a salad fork (we may be country but we ain't barbarians) and score around the edge of the pie. Cut in vents in a star shape.

As an extra little stroke of love and genius you can mix together 2 tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 egg white to brush on the top of the pie. This will give a wonderful carmelized little crunchy layer and help to give your pie a deep, sexy golden brown color.

Bake at 375° for 50 minutes to an hour. If your crust edge looks like it's getting too dark shield it with some aluminum foil. Find yourself a conspiracy theorist and steal his hat. He'll thank you for it when the pies come out.

Cool the pies completely before slicing. If you want to heat up individual slices they do fine in the microwave.

Serve a piping hot slice of this pie with vanilla ice cream and your kids will write songs about you.

Crossposted at Big Brass Ones