Sunday, August 22, 2010

Peach-Blackberry Pie

It's been covered here before. I love pie. Pie Pie Pie.

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Summer is a great time for pie (though in my opinion there is really no bad time for pie) because of all the fresh fruit that is in season. For my camping trip I decided to take advantage of the late running blackberry season and the early start of peach season and make a peach-blackberry pie.

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One of the biggest stumbling blocks I run into when cooking is not paying enough attention. I either get am in such a hurry that I rush through and make mistakes or I get distracted and either overcooking something or letting something else get cold. I wanted everything to turn out delicious for my family so I managed to contain myself and take my time while still being quick and thorough.

Peach-Blackberry Pie
This is a new method for making crust for me but it turned out REALLY well. It may be my new favorite crust recipe.

Crust
1 cup plus 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup (one stick) butter, frozen
3-4 tbs water, ice cold
Pinch of salt

1) Take the stick of butter, frozen for at least 20 minutes, and grate into a medium-large bowl using the large holes of a cheese grater. Return to the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Use this time to chill ice-water if not already doing so.
2) In a small bowl, stir salt into flour to evenly distribute.
3) Add the flour to the butter and toss lightly with your fingers to coat the butter with the flour. Pour the water evenly over the butter and flour and stir lightly with your fingers.
4) Knead briefly with the butt of your hand until the flour, butter, and water just come together to form a dough. If the butter starts to melt stick it back in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to let rest/cool and take it out again to finish. The most important things are to keep the dough cool and not to over work it.
5) Once the dough is finished quickly shape into a ball and return to the freezer. You may wrap it in plastic and keep it for up to a month or use immediately after cooling for 20-30 minutes.

Filling
3 lbs of peaches, ripe
2 6oz packages of blackberries
2-3 tbs lemon juice, the juice of 1/2 a large lemon
1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
5-6 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1) Prep the peaches by peeling, pitting, and slicing into 1/2 inch slices
2) Lightly toss together the ingredients except butter and cornstarch in a bowl. Taste and adjust sugar and spices as necessary. Start with the smaller amount of sugar, you will need to use more if your fruit is less than ripe, but should use as little as necessary.
3) Once filling is finished, add cornstarch to coat. Line an empty pie plate with plastic wrap, pour in pie filling, dot with butter, and freeze. Once filling is frozen solid, remove from pie-plate and wrap completely with plastic and then foil. Store in freezer for 1-2 months.

I pre-made my filling two weeks early when they had a special on peaches and blackberries at the market. If you are not going to freeze your filling, feel free to reduce the amount of cornstarch by a tablespoon or two and use immediately.

Crumble Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, frozen and grated
A few grates of nutmeg
Pinch of salt

1) Freeze and grate butter as with crust.
2) Add all ingredients and mix thoroughly with fingertips until crumbly, pebble sized pieces form.
3) Stick in the fridge or freezer to keep cool until ready to use.

Assemble the Pie
1) Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the pie dough into a 12-13 inch circle and place in pie plate. Crimp edges and place in the freezer while you remove pie filling and let thaw 20-30 minutes on the counter.
2) Unwrap pie filling, it should still be solid but will be slightly softened edges, and place into the crust.
3) Sprinkle crumble topping evenly over the filled pie.
4) Bake at 375 degrees for approximately one hour. If edges start to get too dark wrap in foil. Make sure that the filling has heated all the way through.

Let cool completely and enjoy.

1 comment:

  1. Time for a new pie! How about a nice lemon meringue?

    ReplyDelete