Perfect Peach Pie

Summer is when the produce of Ontario really shines, especially in the Golden Horseshoe region. 3L baskets of peaches are on every fruit stand, farmers’ market table, and supermarket display. As a once-a-summer treat, I decided to make a pie, using Sam Sifton’s recipe from the New York Times.

The recipe includes a homemade crust and filling. All the butter is added at once to the flour, and blitzed using a food processor until some fat is pebble sized. An egg yolk adds tenderness and makes the dough more pliable. The fraisage technique of smearing the hunks of fat promotes flakiness.

To keep the pure flavour of peach, I made the filling without adding the nutmeg. AP flour is the thickener, but you could use tapioca or cornstarch instead. Strangely, the recipe doesn’t tell you to chill the assembled pie, nor place a pan or sheet of foil underneath to catch drips in the oven. As someone with dozens of pies under their belt, I did both of these things.

At the minimum time of 45 minutes, my pie was bubbly and the crust nicely browned. What a wonderful pie: perfect balance of sweet and tart, flaky and soft, and juicy but still easy to eat. Frozen leftover slices, reheated in a moderate oven, were excellent.