Peach Pie

Advocate-tested recipe

Peach Pie

Makes 1 (9-inch) pie; serves 6 to 8. Recipe is by Helana Brigman.

Pie Crust:

21/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

2 sticks unsalted butter, frozen and cut into small cubes

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

3 to 5 tbls. ice water

Filling:

6 to 8 cups ripe peaches

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbls. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

1 egg, beaten

1 tbl. raw sugar

1. Prepare pie crust: Begin by freezing the butter. Place 2 sticks unsalted butter cut into 1-inch cubes into freezer for at least 15 minutes, but preferably an hour. The longer the butter freezes, the better it will stay cold when making your crust.

2. Add flour, butter, salt and sugar to a food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Slowly pulse dry mixture with 2 to 5 tablespoons ice-cold water until dough just comes together. Flour a surface and place dough ball on surface. Divide in half and create two circular discs.

3. Wrap discs in plastic wrap or sandwich bags and refrigerate for immediate use, or freeze for later use. Dough keeps for up to 2 months; one disc equals one layer of standard pie dough.

4. Prepare pie: Halve peaches and slice into evenly thick slices (be sure to keep skins on). The aesthetic nature of your slices matters little here; just make sure to cut them into even levels of thickness (for me, this meant 1/4- or 1/2-inch thick slices).

5. Place peaches in a nonstick saucepan with sugar, flour and cinnamon; stir to coat and rest for about 20 to 30 minutes or until a natural syrup forms.

6. Warm saucepan over medium heat stirring in extracts when mixture becomes bubbly. Remove from heat while you prepare the pie crust. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out a single disc of dough on a well-floured surface and transfer to a (9-inch) pie pan. Press dough down evenly into pan and instead of trimming off dough excess, roll up hanging dough into a thick crust to fill the pan’s edges. You will fill in any gaps in the crust when placing the lattice-top over the filling.

7. Transfer peach filling to pie pan and spread out evenly. Roll out second disc of dough and using a pastry wheel, slice long even layers of lattice about 1-inch thick.

8. Create lattice-top crust by placing 4 strips running left to right over the top of the filling and four strips running up and down on top. If feeling fancy, weave every other strip under and over the following strips. Finally, take any extra dough and fill in gaps along the dough’s edges that may have occurred when preparing the lattice.

9. Paint lattice top with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake pie for 10 minutes at 425 degrees then drop heat to 350 degrees. Bake pie for an additional 25 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool. Serve with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or by itself.

Editor’s note: This story was changed on Aug. 9, 2012, to correct the amount of butter used in the crust.