It’s hard to deny that summer is over and fall is upon us. The kids have all gone back to school. The pool is closed for another year. In some places, the warm weather lingers, but it is no longer welcome. Sweaters and boots, that’s what we want now as September settles in and August is dismissed.
But here in Illinois, the farmers market continues to insist that we are between summer and fall with neither season prevailing over the other. Colorful heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn and luscious peaches sit side-by-side with carrots, winter squash and apples.
I am ready to embrace autumn, but part of me knows that I will regret my haste to bid farewell to summer when the days shorten and sweater weather becomes jacket weather. And so, I will pass by the bins of apples and knobby misshapen root vegetables for another week and buy tomatoes, corn and peaches while I still can.
Well, we may have had our fill of peaches for a while. You see, a week ago, I was seduced by a bargain price on a half-bushel of peaches. If you don’t know, a half-bushel is actually a shocking amount of peaches. I took me the entire week to dig out from under them. The question my family was asking was not the Prufrockian “do I dare to eat a peach,” but rather “do I dare NOT to eat a peach.” Because if I dare eat some other fruit, Mom will surely kill me.
Over the course of the week, I made six jars of peach butter, another six of peach ketchup, a half-gallon of vin de pêches, and one glorious peach pie. As long as there is peach pie to eat, summer can stick around as long as it likes.
One thing I have always insisted on when making pie dough is European butter with its higher butterfat content. I am delighted to share with you that one of the best-known American butter brands, Land O’Lakes, now has its own European-style butter with 82% butterfat, exactly the percentage I look for when buying butter to make pastry. Wherever you live, you should be able to find Land O’Lakes European Style Butter and experience the difference that premium butter makes in baking.
Won’t you join me in making one last peach pie before summer is truly over?
Ingredients
- Crust
- 7 ounces cold, unsalted European-style butter
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ cup ice water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar
- 6 cups sliced, peeled peaches
- Juice of one-half lemon
- 1/4 cup each cornstarch and tapioca starch OR 6 TB cornstarch
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 TB each whole milk and cream
- Turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Cut the butter into small cubes and place half of the cubes in the freezer. Return the other half to the refrigerator until needed.
- Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the chilled butter from the refrigerator to the dry ingredients and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Add the frozen butter to the food processor and pulse until the butter is in small but still visible pieces.
- Combine the lemon juice and ice water and add six tablespoons of the mixture to the ingredients in the food processor. Pulse several times until combined. Pinch a bit of the dough and if it holds together, you do not need to add more liquid. If it is still dry, add more of the liquid, one-half tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough to a bowl or a well-floured board.
- Knead the dough until it forms a ball. Divide the dough into two and wrap each half well in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator to relax for at least a half-hour but preferably overnight.
- Begin by rolling out the bottom crust: remove one of the balls of dough from the refrigerator. If your dough was chilled for longer than thirty minutes, allow to soften for ten to fifteen minutes before rolling it out.
- Prior to rolling out the dough, strike it with your rolling pin to flatten. This will soften it further.
- Preheat the oven to 400 and grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
- Liberally dust a pastry board or mat and your rolling pin with flour.
- Roll the dough out, rotating it and turning it frequently and adding more flour as necessary to keep it from sticking, until it is the size of your pie plate and between ¼ and ⅛ of an inch thick.
- Carefully center the pie dough in the plate and press it into the bottom and sides. Trim or fold over any excess dough around the edges.
- Sprinkle the bottom of the plate with a teaspoon each of sugar and flour to prevent the filling from making the crust soggy
- Chill the dough in the pie plate 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Place the peaches in a large bowl and spritz with lemon juice to prevent browning.
- Combine the sugar, starches and spices in a small bowl and add it to the bowl with the peaches. Toss to combine.
- Remove second disk of dough from refrigerator and roll it out according to above method.
- Pour filling into pie plate making a mound in the center.
- Carefully place top crust on top of filling and pinch edges of the top and bottom crusts together. Use your fingers to create a nice, fluted edge. Cut three or four tear-shaped holes in center of top crust to act as a vent.
- Combine the milk and cream and brush the top of the pie with the mixture. Sprinkle the top with Turbinado sugar if desired.
- Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.
- Reduce heat to 375. It is a good idea, at this point to cover the edges of the crust with tin foil or use a pie crust shield to prevent them from burning.
- Bake pie at 375 for 35-45 minutes until crust is deep golden and filling is bubbling.
- Cool on a rack completely before slicing.
Full disclosure time: Land O’Lakes sent me free samples of its European-style butter and bread to try it with. I have not receive any compensation from Land O’Lakes nor was I asked to write about this product. I just really think European-style butter produces better results and am glad that this style of butter is readily accessible.
As a Georgia girl who LOVES her peaches, that looks amazing!!!
But, I must tell you, I have never heard of peach ketchup, Emily. 😉
You are definitely my go-to authority on Southern cooking! So I’m relieved you approve of my peach pie. But trust me, fruit ketchups are a thing! Ketchup simply means a condiment preserved with vinegar and spices. It is only recently that people thought of ketchup as purely tomato-based. http://www.saveur.com/article/kitchen/beyond-tomatoes-four-great-fruit-ketchups