1. 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.
2. 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?
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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/
