Happy Go Marni: Fresh Peach Pie with a Lattice Top

I went to the Hollywood Farmer's Market this past weekend. Mostly, I was there for the cookbook sale hosted by the Culinary Historians of Southern California. And of course I bought 5 cookbooks. But that's a story for another day.

Since I was at the farmer's market, I might as well get a bunch of veggies, too. Then it dawned on me, with all the beautiful fruit stands, I should make a fruit pie. My first choice was an apple pie, but I was very stubborn and only willing to make the apple pie out of Gravenstein apples, like my mom does, but of course there were none at this market. So I quickly moved onto a different fruit. Peach.

A lady at one of the stands had what appeared to be only 5 peaches left. What! So early in the day? It was only around 10am. The market would be open for another three hours! Anyways, they were a tiny bit bruised in places because they were so ripe. With the bruises, she said she'd sell them to me for 50 cents a pound. Usually they'd be $3 a pound there. Sold! So I bought a few more peaches at another stand for $2.75/lb., which is still kind of pricey for peaches, but I didn't mind since I had saved so much on the first 5. Now I had enough peaches for a pie! Home I went, skipping and humming the whole way, excited to make a pie.

I sat on my living room floor in front of a cookbook bookcase, trying to figure out where to go to find a great peach pie recipe. My cookbook collection is enormous; this was a daunting task. But when I saw the photo of the peach pie in the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking cookbook, I knew it was the one. I wanted to make a pie that looked exactly like that!

Of the entire process making the pie, from homemade crust, to preparing the peach filling, to placing the lattice on the top, the hardest and most time consuming part for me was getting the skin off the peaches. I often took the peaches out of the boiling water too soon when the skin was not easy enough to peel off. The task itself wasn't so complicated, I just wasn't giving it the patience it deserved. Other than that, it's really not that hard to make a peach pie! And a lattice top, while impressive looking, is easy as pie! :)

Lattice-Top Peach Pie
Adapted from a recipe by Cathy Burgett, Elinor Klivans, and Lou Seibert Pappas in Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking
Makes one 9-inch pie

1 Recipe Flaky Pie Pastry for Lattice Crust (see below)

For the filling
6-8 peaches (3 lb)
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, strained
3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

For the topping
1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy (double) cream
2 teaspoons sugar

Prepare the Flaky Pie Pastry and refrigerate to chill as directed. Note: Do not bake the crust yet! The peach filling will be spread over the unbaked pie crust.

To make the filling, begin with the following technique to remove the skin from the peaches. Bring a large saucepan three-fourths full of water to a boil. Immerse 3 peaches at a time in the water until the skin appears to puff up and separate from the meat of the peach. It took me anywhere from one minute to several minutes per peach. Sometimes I had to put a peach back in the boiling water to give it more time. Remove the peaches from the water and allow to cool enough so you can handle them. Remove the peel with your fingers or a small sharp knife, then cut each peach in half. Remove the pit and then cut the peach lengthwise into 1/2-inch slices.

In a large bowl, combine these peach slices with 4 tablespoons of the sugar, the lemon juice, and the tapioca. Gently stir to combine but take care not to mash the peaches. Set aside.

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the larger of the two disks of dough so that it will completely cover the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Sprinkle the flour and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over the bottom crust. Spoon in the peach filling and spread evenly. Roll out the smaller dough disk, then cut parallel lines in the dough to create lattice strips. Place half the strips in one direction on the pie, spacing out evenly, then place the other half of the strips in the other direction, using the lattice technique of going over and under. Gently brush the lattice with the egg mixture, then sprinkle the entire top of the pie with sugar.

Bake the pie until the edges are just starting to brown, about 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 38-45 minutes until the crust is a light golden brown and the peach filling is bubbling through the lattice. Let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into it.

Flaky Pie Pastry for Lattice Crust Pie
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
4 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons sugar, optional
1/4 teaspoon salt
4-6 tablespoons ice water

You can make this dough by hand in a bowl with a pastry blender or two knives, but I prefer using a food processor. Makes the process so quick! A stand mixer will work, too.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor (or a bowl). Pulse a few times to mix. Add the cold butter and shortening pieces and pulse 8-10 times until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs the size of large peas. Add the ice water a little at a time and pulse 10-12 times just until the dough begins to come together. It should not form a ball yet.

Transfer the dough to your dough board (that's been sprinkled with flour). Divide the dough into 2 portions, one twice as large as the other (in other words, imagine dividing the dough into three pieces and then combine two of them into one disk). Shape the larger portion into a 6-inch disk and the smaller one into a 3-inch disk. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour or for up to overnight.

Step-by-Step in Pictures
In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt, then pulse together with the cold butter and shortening...

Allow the dough to come together, though it does not need to form a tight ball...

Divide the dough into two disks; one disk should be twice as large as the other, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least one hour...

To make the filling, first briefly boil the peaches so the skins will peel off easily...

Peel off the skins. Have patience!

Slice the peaches into 1/2-inch slices and place in a bowl with sugar, lemon juice, and tapioca...

Stir to combine and then set aside...

Roll out the larger disk of dough into a circle large enough to cover a 9-inch pie pan...

Transfer the rolled out dough to the pie pan and crimp the edges with your thumb and index finger...

Sprinkle the bottom of the crust with flour and sugar...

Spoon the peach filling onto the crust...

Roll out the smaller disk of dough and cut into strips for the lattice top...

Place half the strips on the pie, spacing evenly...

With the remaining strips, one strip at a time, carefully lay them perpendicular to the strips that are already on the pie, lifting the original ones so that you create an over-under pattern...

Trim any excess dough hanging over the edge of the pie dish, then tuck the lattice strip ends into the pie edge (I use kitchen shears for the trimming)...