Perfect Peach Pie

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Ina Garten's pie crust is now my "go to", so this pie is made with her recipe. Summer peaches are at the height of their season, in my state of California. I made this pie filling with a combination of brown and white sugar, a touch of vanilla. A slice of this pie, with vanilla ice cream-- well, it's as perfect as I could ask for.
NOTE: I use Instant Clearjel, which I buy from King Arthur Flour (online). This product does a beautiful job of thickening fruit pies. If you don't have this product, you can use flour to thicken fruit filling. Honestly, I'd visit www.kingarthurflour.com and order this great product! It doesn't "cloud" the fruit pies, nor does it affect the taste.

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Ingredients

  • For the crust:
  • 12 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
  • 6-8 tablespoons ice water (about 1/2 cup)
  • For the peach filling:
  • 6-8 * medium-sized peaches (frozen is okay, too)
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 3 Tbsp. Instant Clearjel (modified cornstarch)**
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (optional)
  • Egg wash (Optional):
  • 1 egg
  • splash of water
  • *I like to use a LOT of peaches for a tall pie. 6 will do fine.
  • 3 **3 Tbsp of Instant clearjel = 3 Tbsp of cornstarch, or 1/3 cup unbleached flour or 1/4 cup tapioca flour

Preparation

Step 1

For the pie crust:
Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix.

Add the butter and shortening.

Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas.

With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball.

Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Don't skip this step. You want the gluten to relax and to work with the very cold dough makes for a tender crust.

Cut the dough in half.

Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board.

Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan.

Repeat with the top crust.

**Ina Garten prefers to use Crisco shortening, that has been stored in the refrigerator.

***Cook time does not include 30 minute refrigeration time.

For removing the peach skins:
You can peel them, or blanch them. To blanch peaches, cut a small "x" at the bottom of each peach.
Carefully dunk the peaches in boiling water for 1 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, remove the peaches and place them into a ice water bath (stops the cooking)
After a few minutes, you can "unpeel" the peaches with your fingers.

Obviously, if you buy frozen peaches, the work has been done for you.

For the Filling:
Slice the peaches into thick slices.
Add the juice of a lemon, vanilla and a dash of kosher salt.
If using Instant Clearjel (thickener), mix 3 Tbsp. into sugars to combine.
Otherwise, add 1/3 cup flour (or 3 Tbsp. cornstarch) , the cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk together to combine.

Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the fruit and gently combine. Allow to sit for a few minutes (unless you are using Instant Clearjel).

Dot the fruit with the butter. Add the top pie crust.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. I like to add a pie crust shield (or foil) if the pie crust is darkening a little too fast.

Bake for 50-55 minutes.

Allow the pie to cool for at least 4 hours. Otherwise, the fruit filling will not have a chance to set, and you will have a puddle of fruit pie!

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