Peach Pie with Rye Crust

Peach Pie with Rye Crust | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Peach Pie with Rye Crust | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Peach Pie with Rye Crust | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Peach Pie with Rye Crust | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Peach Pie with Rye Crust | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Peach Pie with Rye Crust | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Peach Pie with Rye Crust | Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Breaking your routine every once in a while is a good thing. Shake it up. I thought after returning from our journey this spring that I would want routine forever and ever. But routine has gone out the window these last months. It might have something to do with the total eclipse, or the cast of characters streaming through our guest room. Some days I love this. A touch of the unknown – What will our guests want to do today? When are they coming and going? – is mixed with feelings of comfort and pride as we show people our home, our city, our community.

One routine I have missed is baking. Granted, between the lack of air conditioning in our apartment (I’m working on it, Mom) and our big west and south facing windows, I don’t often want to turn on the oven. But something inspired me. Something big, the size of softballs. Skin the mottled colors of sunsets. A scent you could smell wafting through the air as we strolled through the farmers market one cloudy Saturday morning. How can you go a whole summer without making a peach pie? I was feeling the same pangs of guilt as last summer when I made only one strawberry-rhubarb pie. I had barely even eaten a perfect peach this summer, much less baked it in between layers of buttery crust.

Another routine that has been finding its footing again is my go-to pie dough. I used to stick with the one I had been making for years, then I switched to the one out of The New Best Recipe. But this summer has been the summer of The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, a cookbook that has been reawakening my love of pie. This is a take on their all butter crust, but I’ve subbed some of the all purpose flour with rye for a darker, earthier flavor. I would recommend trying it, but if you don’t have rye flour and don’t want to purchase some, you can just replace it with all purpose flour and still get a perfectly crumbly, wonderful crust.

Peach Pie with Rye Crust

Makes one 9.5″ pie

Ingredients

Rye Pie Crust

1 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
ice
3/4 cups rye flour
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, cold and cut into chunks

Peach Filling

6 large peaches
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp kosher salt
3 Tbsp arrowroot powder
optional: 2 dashes angostura bitters

Instructions

Rye Pie Crust

In a glass, combine the apple cider vinegar, water, and a handful of ice cubes and set aside. In a food processor combine rye flour, AP flour, salt, and sugar and pulse a few times. Add the chunks of butter and pulse until the larger pieces of butter are no bigger than the size of a pea. Add 3 Tbsp of the vinegar-water mixture, pulse to combine. Add more vinegar-water, 2 Tbsp at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the dough begins to come together. Be careful not to overmix! You still want some larger chunks of butter in there. Dump the dough out onto a clean surface, divide in two, and pat into discs. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Peach Filling and Pie Assembly

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and prepare an ice bath. Score an X in the bottom of each peach, and gently plop the peaches in to the pot of boiling water. Cook for about 60 seconds or until if you see the corners of the X on the bottom of the peaches start to peel off, and transfer the peaches to the ice bath. Once cool enough to handle, start from the X and peel off the skins. Cut the peaches into slices and put them in a large mixing bowl.

Roll out one disc of pie dough until it’s about 1/8-inch thick, and transfer it to your pie dish. Trim the dough, leaving about 1 inch of overhang. Refrigerate the dish and dough while you prepare the filling: To the bowl of peaches add lemon juice, granulated and brown sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, arrowroot powder, and bitters if using. Spoon this filling into the refrigerated pie shell, leaving excess juices in the bowl. Remove the other disc of dough from the fridge, roll it out to 1/8-inch thick, and cover the pie with either the full pastry round or a lattice. Crimp the edge. Transfer the pie to the fridge for about 10 minutes while you heat the oven.

Put your oven racks on the very bottom and in the middle, placing a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom rack, and preheat your oven to 425°F. Take the pie from the fridge and place it on the rimmed baking sheet on the bottom rack. Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375°F and move the pie and baking sheet to the middle rack. Bake for another 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

Let the pie cool on a wire rack for at least 3 hours. Serve with freshly whipped cream or ice cream.