Mondays that feel like Sundays are meant for baking. And while there’s a glimmer of fall’s crispness in the air, it still feels like summer around here. So to celebrate Labour Day I decided to make the prettiest peach pie, if I do say so myself!
Due to a late start to the Okanagan growing season this year, there is an abundance of fresh, juicy peaches. Hot temps and peaches galore, make this pie totally seasonally appropriate!
The pie itself is really simple to make. I used my go to pie crust recipe, it always comes together in a cinch and results in a light and flaky crust, just like you’d expect. The most frustrating part of making this pie was peeling the peaches! Mine sat out on the counter a little longer than they should have, so they were soft when I attempted to peel them. Try to use nice, firm, slightly under ripe peaches if you can.
The lattice and roses are a little extra I decided to add. You know me, it’s just as much about presentation (sometime more!) than taste. I blame Instagram 😉 This pie would be just as delicious with a simple lattice or plain top, but if you’d like to elevate your pie, the roses are a beautiful addition and really not that difficult, I promise!
If you do give the roses a try, I’d love to know how they turn out, please share in the comments below. Good luck!
Ingredients
Crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/3 – 1/2 cup ice water
Filling
1 egg, beaten
5 cups sliced peeled peaches
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
Crust
In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Divide the ball in half, place one half of the dough on a piece of parchment paper, place a second piece of parchment paper on top and flatten. Roll out the dough into a circle 1-2 inches larger than your pie dish. Carefully remove the top piece of parchment, flip the crust over and fit into pie dish. Trim the edges, be sure to leave a bit of an overhang as the crust will shrink as it bakes. Chill the pie dish for 4 hours or overnight.
Roll out the second half of the dough the same as the first, but into a 4 x 8 inch rectangle (or a 6 inch disc if you’re making a simple lattice or two crust pie). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Assembly
Place the sliced peaches in a large bowl, and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix gently. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Pour over the peaches, and mix gently. Set aside.
Roll out the rectangle of dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out six 1/2 inch wide stripes. Braid three of the stripes together and set aside on a baking sheet (if your place is warm like mine was, you might want to place the baking sheet in the fridge so that the dough doesn’t soften too much). I only needed two braids for my pie dish, if you need more, repeat the process to create an additional braid. With the remaining dough cut out six 1 & 1/2 – 2 inch wide stripes and two 1/2 inch wide stripes, use your pie dish as a guide to measure the length of each strip, to create the lattice. You may have to re-roll the dough. Place these on the baking sheet with the braids.
Re-roll the remaining dough to 1/8 inch thickness, using a 3 inch round cookie cutter, cut out four circles. Place the four circles in a row, slightly overlapping each other. Roll up the circles into a log, then cut the log in half. Pinch the cut side of the log inwards to hold it together. Turn the cut side down and use your fingers to press the folds of dough out to create petals of a rose. Chill the roses to ensure they keep their shape as they bake. And that’s it! There’s a great video that walks you through the process, here. Use the remnants of dough that remain, to cut out 4-5 leaves using a leave cookie cutter.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Brush the bottom pie crust with some of the beaten egg to keep the dough from becoming soggy later.
Pour the peaches into the pie crust. Weaves the stripes of dough on top of the filling to create a lattice, I used the thin stripes on the right and top edge of the pie. There’s a great video to walk you through creating a lattice, here. I like to ‘glue’ the edges of the lattice to the bottom crust with the beaten egg. Then place the braids on the edge of the pie, ‘gluing’ in place with the beaten egg. Gently press the braids together to join the ends. Place the roses and leaves as you like and ‘glue’ in place. Brush the remaining egg over the entire top crust – braid, lattice, roses and leaves.
Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes, until the crust is brown and the juice begins to bubble up. If the braid or roses brown to fast, cover them with strips of aluminum foil about halfway through baking. Cool before serving, this pie tastes better warm than hot. Once cooled, decorate with real flowers and serve!
