Peach and blueberry pie

Peach and Blueberry

Pie

Before you roll your eyes, and dismiss this dessert as something that’s

too complicated for you… something that’s out of your skill set…

something that you simply don’t have the time or energy for…

please. Just give me a minute. Everyone should know how to make a

pie. If you know how to make pie, you know how to make love.

What do you do for a living? Are you an accountant? How do you do

that? I can barely count. Are you a barista? A lawyer? A super

mom? A welder? A hat maker? Awesome.

I want you to know how to make a pie. It’s really important to me. Can

we get on this together?

There are things you should know before we start. Making pie is not

necessarily easy. Pie is an easy gourmet food recipe thought it can be a

little frustrating.

Wait… who was that person that said the best things in the world are

also the easiest? No one. People don’t say that… because it’s totally

not true.

Am I doing a good job with this pep talk? Do I need to yell?

Making pie starts by making pie crust.

Stay with me. We can totally do this. We don’t need to buy that pre-

made junk.

Homemade pie crust is part of the love we’re making. It’s love. We

can’t cut corners.

Get on board with butter. Cold butter.

We use our fingers to quickly incorporate the cold butter cubes into the

flour mixture. It seems like a lot of butter. It seems like a lot of

blessings from heaven.

We’ll add just a touch in vinegar to the dough. What!? Yea. Don’t

worry. We won’t taste it.

A touch of acid really helps with the flakiness of the crust.

Are you worried about how shaggy this crust is? This is where the love

comes in.

Loving hands divide the shaggy dough and gently knead it into two

disks. Tender but strong hands. Do you have those? We need the

dough to come together, but we want to leave little bits of butter

speckled throughout the dough… so we come with the tenderness.

See the butter bits!? That’s what we want.

These disks get wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for an hour.

We refrigerate dough because we want to moisture to distribute, and

the butter to re-chill. Refrigerating the dough will make the rolling

process easier.

Fruit time. I’m certain that there are few things better than ripe

summer peaches and fresh blueberries.

Because this is pie, we have to add a thickener (flour and cornstarch)

and a few spices for flare.

Sprinkle and toss. Again with the tender but firm hand.

A generous sprinkle of flour on a clean counter is how we’ll start rolling

out the dough.

Do you see what happened here? Near the center of that dough was a

tear in my crust… because that’s real life. I patched it and rolled the

crust out just a bit more.

Oops… yea… I had to take a bit more extra crust and patch it again.

That’s love.. sometimes it needs a band-aid.

We’ll roll two crusts. Pile in the fruit mixture, and pile on another

crust. Pinch the pie crust with your fingers, or press together with a

fork. Both are pretty.

Brushing with a beaten egg makes for a beautiful brown top.

Extra cinnamon sugar? Always a good idea.

Beautifully golden brown pie.

It’s not perfect, but somehow it’s perfect in those imperfections. Well…

if our imperfections include sugary baked peaches and blueberries in a

buttery crust… I suppose it’s a good life after all.

The crusts tore bit. I patched them. The crust browned as it did, with

some sides darker than others. The fruit bubbled over a bit. It took just

over two hours to come together. All of this? Totally fine.

Slice generously and serve with vanilla ice cream. It tastes like pure

summer. It tastes like Sundays after church. It tastes like

grandmothers. It tastes like pure love. It’s important. I really want you

to know how to make love. Will you do this? Please. Awesome. High

five.

Peach and Blueberry Pie

makes one 9-inch pie

For the Crust:

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes

5 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ice cold water

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

For the Filling:

about 3 pounds ripe peaches (I used about 6 peaches)

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 to 2/3 cups granulated sugar (depending on the sweetness of

your peaches)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

scant 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground coriander

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for

topping crust before baking

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

1. To make the crust, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar,

and salt. Add cold, cubed butter and, using your fingers, work the

butter into the flour mixture. Quickly break the butter down into

the flour mixture, some butter pieces will be the size of oat flakes,

some will be the size of peas. Stir together the ice cold water and

vinegar. Create a well in the butter and flour mixture and pour in

the water and vinegar mixture. Use a fork to bring to dough

together. Try to moisten all of the flour bits. On a lightly floured

work surface, dump out the dough mixture. It will be moist and

shaggy. That’s perfect. Divide the dough in two and gently knead

into two disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for

1 hour.

2. To make the filling, wash and slice peaches. In a medium bowl,

combine peach slices and blueberries. In a small bowl, whisk

together sugar, spices, flour, and cornstarch. Pour the sugar

mixture over the fruit, and gently toss together with a wooden

spoon. Stir in the lemon juice. Place bowl of fruit in the fridge to

rest while you roll the crust out.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the

oven, and place a baking sheet on the lower rack, just below

where you’re going to place the pie. This will catch any pie

drippings without making a mess of your oven.

4. Remove one of the pie dough disks from the fridge. On a lightly

floured surface, roll dough out into about a 13-inch round. Roll

the dough a few strokes, then use your fingers to move the

emerging circle around the floured surface. This ensures that the

dough isn’t sticking to the work surface. The circle won’t be

perfect, that’s ok. Try not to get any tears in the rolled out dough,

but if you do, they can be patched together with extra

dough. When you roll the dough and you can see it start

springing back, that means that the butter is warming and the

crust shouldn’t be rolled out anymore. Gently lift the 13-inch

round from the floured surface and center in the 9-inch baking

dish. Place in the fridge while you roll out the top crust.

5. Roll out the top crust just as you did the bottom crust, moving the

dough across the floured surface every once in a while, and

creating a roughly 13-inch circle. Remove the bottom crust and

fruit filling from the fridge. Gently pour the fruit filling into the

pie dish. Carefully remove the top crust from the work surface

and drape over the fruit in the pie dish. With a small knife, trim

the crust, leaving about 3/4-inch overhang. With your fingers

press the top and bottom crusts together and fold under. Use a

fork or your fingers to crimp the edges of the dough. Cut five

small slits in the top of the crust so the juices and steam can

vent. Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle with cinnamon

sugar mixture.

6. Place pie in the oven and bake at 400 degrees F for 15

minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 375 and bake for 45 to 55

more minutes. Remove from the oven when crust is browned and

golden, and the juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and

allow to cool for 2 hours before serving. Place covered in the

fridge to store. Pie lasts up to 3 or 4 days.

Source: http://joythebaker.com/2011/08/peach-blueberry-pie/