Before you roll your eyes, and dismiss this dessert as something that’s too complicated for you… something that’s out of your skill set… something that you simply don’t have the time or energy for… please. Just give me a minute.
Everyone should know how to make a pie.
If you know how to make pie, you know how to make love.
What do you do for a living? Are you an accountant? How do you do that? I can barely count. Are you a barista? A lawyer? A super mom? A welder? A hat maker? Awesome.
I want you to know how to make a pie. It’s really important to me. Can we get on this together?
There are things you should know before we start.
Making pie is not necessarily easy. Pie is rarely perfect. Making pie might be a little frustrating.
Wait… who was that person that said the best things in the world are also the easiest? No one. People don’t say that… because it’s totally not true.
Am I doing a good job with this pep talk? Do I need to yell?
Making pie starts by making pie crust.
Stay with me. We can totally do this. We don’t need to buy that pre-made junk.
Homemade pie crust is part of the love we’re making. It’s love. We can’t cut corners.
Get on board with butter. Cold butter.
We use our fingers to quickly incorporate the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture. It seems like a lot of butter. It seems like a lot of blessings from heaven.
We’ll add just a touch in vinegar to the dough. What!? Yea. Don’t worry. We won’t taste it.
A touch of acid really helps with the flakiness of the crust. Pro tips.
Are you worried about how shaggy this crust is?
This is where the love comes in.
Loving hands divide the shaggy dough and gently knead it into two disks. Tender but strong hands. Do you have those? We need the dough to come together, but we want to leave little bits of butter speckled throughout the dough… so we come with the tenderness.
See the butter bits!? That’s what we want.
These disks get wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for an hour.
We refrigerate dough because we want to moisture to distribute, and the butter to re-chill. Refrigerating the dough will make the rolling process easier.
Fruit time.
I’m certain that there are few things better than ripe summer peaches and fresh blueberries.
Because this is pie, we have to add a thickener (flour and cornstarch) and a few spices for flare.
Sprinkle and toss. Again with the tender but firm hand.
A generous sprinkle of flour on a clean counter is how we’ll start rolling out the dough.
Do you see what happened here? Near the center of that dough was a tear in my crust… because that’s real life. I patched it and rolled the crust out just a bit more.
Oops… yea… I had to take a bit more extra crust and patch it again.
That’s love.. sometimes it needs a band-aid.
We’ll roll two crusts. Pile in the fruit mixture, and pile on another crust. Pinch the pie crust with your fingers, or press together with a fork. Both are pretty pretty.
Brushing with a beaten egg makes for a beautiful brown top.
Extra cinnamon sugar? Always a good idea.
Beautifully golden brown pie.
It’s not perfect, but somehow it’s perfect in those imperfections. Well… if our imperfections include sugary baked peaches and blueberries in a buttery crust… I suppose it’s a good life after all.
The crusts tore bit. I patched them. The crust browned as it did, with some sides darker than others. The fruit bubbled over a bit. It took just over two hours to come together. All of this? Totally fine.
Slice generously and serve with vanilla ice cream. It tastes like pure summer. It tastes like Sundays after church. It tastes like grandmothers. It tastes like pure love. It’s important. I really want you to know how to make love. Will you do this? Please. Awesome. High five.
Peach and Blueberry Pie
makes one 9-inch pie
For the Crust:
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
5 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons ice cold water
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
For the Filling:
about 3 pounds ripe peaches (I used about 6 peaches)
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 to 2/3 cups granulated sugar (depending on the sweetness of your peaches)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
scant 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for topping crust before baking
To make the crust, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add cold, cubed butter and, using your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture. Quickly break the butter down into the flour mixture, some butter pieces will be the size of oat flakes, some will be the size of peas. Stir together the ice cold water and vinegar. Create a well in the butter and flour mixture and pour in the water and vinegar mixture. Use a fork to bring to dough together. Try to moisten all of the flour bits. On a lightly floured work surface, dump out the dough mixture. It will be moist and shaggy. That’s perfect. Divide the dough in two and gently knead into two disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
To make the filling, wash and slice peaches. In a medium bowl, combine peach slices and blueberries. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, spices, flour, and cornstarch. Pour the sugar mixture over the fruit, and gently toss together with a wooden spoon. Stir in the lemon juice. Place bowl of fruit in the fridge to rest while you roll the crust out.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and place a baking sheet on the lower rack, just below where you’re going to place the pie. This will catch any pie drippings without making a mess of your oven.
Remove one of the pie dough disks from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into about a 13-inch round. Roll the dough a few strokes, then use your fingers to move the emerging circle around the floured surface. This ensures that the dough isn’t sticking to the work surface. The circle won’t be perfect, that’s ok. Try not to get any tears in the rolled out dough, but if you do, they can be patched together with extra dough. When you roll the dough and you can see it start springing back, that means that the butter is warming and the crust shouldn’t be rolled out anymore. Gently lift the 13-inch round from the floured surface and center in the 9-inch baking dish. Place in the fridge while you roll out the top crust.
Roll out the top crust just as you did the bottom crust, moving the dough across the floured surface every once in a while, and creating a roughly 13-inch circle. Remove the bottom crust and fruit filling from the fridge. Gently pour the fruit filling into the pie dish. Carefully remove the top crust from the work surface and drape over the fruit in the pie dish. With a small knife, trim the crust, leaving about 3/4-inch overhang. With your fingers press the top and bottom crusts together and fold under. Use a fork or your fingers to crimp the edges of the dough. Cut five small slits in the top of the crust so the juices and steam can vent. Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.
Place pie in the oven and bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 375 and bake for 45 to 55 more minutes. Remove from the oven when crust is browned and golden, and the juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 hours before serving. Place covered in the fridge to store. Pie lasts up to 3 or 4 days.
Joan
I literally just took the pie out of the oven…juices dripping over the side and I can’t wait to taste it! By the way, in what home does a pie last three to four days?? Not mine! I hope it tastes as good as it looks!
KP
I was looking for a recipe to use up the peaches and blueberries I had and came across your recipe. This was probably the tastiest pie crust I’ve ever made. My husband told me it was the best pie he’s ever eaten. Better than his Nanny’s! Loved it, thank you for the recipe.