Excellent fresh peaches are available in late August and early Sept.,from Colorado and Washington state.
Ingredients:
Pastry For a Two Crust Pie (recipe follows)
4 cups peeled and cut up fresh peaches
1 to 2 Tbsp. lemon juice (only if the peaches are too bland
and they need the lemon juice to brighten their flavor).
3 Tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
whole milk or cream for brushing on top of pie
sugar for sprinkling on top of pie
Prepare pastry for a double crust pie.
Mix
together the 3 Tbsp. flour and the 1 cup of sugar, and set aside. Peel the peaches (a disposable plastic knife
such as one you would take on a picnic does a great job of removing the peach
skins, without having to blanch the peaches).
A small paring knife will do the job also. Cut the peaches into fairly small
chunks. If the peaches are too bland and
dry, add the optional lemon juice. Add
the flour sugar mixture to the peaches and mix together until all the peaches
are well coated with the flour sugar mixture. Place the bottom crust in a pie plate and fill
with the peach mixture. Cut up the 2
Tbsp. of butter into small pieces and dot the peaches with it. Cover the filling with the top pastry and
seal the edges of the pie. Use a pastry brush to coat the top of the pie with
whole milk or cream. Sprinkle some sugar over the top of the pie,
and with a knife make a few slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Place in a preheated 400 degree Fahrenheit oven and bake for 15 minutes,
then turn down the heat to 350 degrees
and bake for an additional 40 to 50 minutes, until the crust is a golden color
on both the top and bottom of the pie.
Carefully remove the pie from the oven and let it cool until the pie is
just warm.
Serve with Sweetened Whipped Cream (recipe follows), and
or vanilla ice cream.
Tip: A glass pie
plate is best to use, so that you can see color of the bottom crust and judge
when the pie is done.
Pastry For A Two Crust Pie
Pasta Per Torta
This pie pastry is delicious with its all butter fat
content, and very tender because 1/3 of the flour is cake flour.
Tip: A glass pie
plate is best to use, so that you can see color of the bottom crust and judge
when the pie is done.
Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
½ tsp. salt
1 cup butter
8 to 10 Tbsp. ice water
Mix flour and salt together in a
large bowl. Cut in the butter with 2 knives until the pieces are small enough
to be cut in with a pastry blender. Blend until half the butter is the size of
small peas and the rest resembles coarse meal.
Add about 1/3 of the water and mix with a fork. Continue adding a little
water at a time and mix with your hands until the dough holds together and can
be formed into a ball. Do not over mix as this will give you tough dough. For the
final blending, place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Take ½ of the
dough and with the heal of your hand rapidly press the dough down and away from
you in a firm quick smear of about 6
inches, set aside and smear the other half of the dough. Form the dough into 2
flat round discs and wrap with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to
rest for at least 1 hour, 2 hours is preferable. The dough can be left in the
refrigerator overnight.
Flour
your work surface and your rolling pin lightly and flour the disc of pastry
lightly also. Flatten a disc by hitting a rolling pin onto the surface 3 times
in one direction and then 3 times in the opposite direction. Roll the dough out from the center until the dough is about 1/8 inch thick and
large enough to fit into a pie plate or tart pan with overlap. Fold the dough
in half and fit into a pie plate or tart pan. Repeat the rolling procedure with
the second disc and fold it in half and lift over the pie that you have filled
with your desired filling and follow
directions for baking as recommended. 
Sweetened Whipped Cream
Panna Montata
Ingredients:
1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. to 1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. vanilla extract (to taste)
The cream should be well chilled
just from the refrigerator (under 40 degrees F.) Beat with an electric hand mixer if you have
one, otherwise a stand mixer or a whisk.
Start beating slowly so that the cream does not spray out of the
bowl. Beat until the cream is thickened,
then add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add the Tbsp. of vanilla
extract and stir until it is mixed in thoroughly. Taste and add more if
needed. The cream should form soft peaks
when the beater is slowly lifted up.
Place in the refrigerator and let it sit for at least an hour before
serving to let the flavors meld.
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