I’m back to writing now after enjoying celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) last week! It was a joyous time dwelling outdoors and just focusing on the presence of God and His beautiful creation. This is a photo of the sukkah we built in our backyard.
So last post I talked about the incredible nutritional value of peaches, and now I want to share my recipe for a sweet peach treat with you!
My love for peach pies started when I was very young. Around seven years old, my mother did me the wonderful favor of entering me into the Kids Cook summer cooking contest at the Arizona Republic/Phoenix Gazette Newspaper. Each week we kids were to try a recipe and then mail a short report back to the newspaper about how it went. The peach pie recipe was my favorite!
In college, I started to use a recipe from the Fanny Farmer Baking Book. Now as a mom, I learned to perfect my pie crust preparation by taking tips from Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions cookbook. It’s been a work in progress and I’m sure I’ll learn some new methods as time goes on!
These days I am using only organic ingredients for my peach pies since conventional peaches have high amounts of pesticide residues.
Peach Pie and Pie Dough
Basic Pie Dough Adapted from Marion Cunningham’s and recipe
For a 9 inch 2 crust pie:
2 1/4 cups organic all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
3/4 Organic palm shortening
6-7 Tbs cold filtered water
Mix flour and salt together in a food processor. Have cold water ready at hand. Place the palm shortening in bits onto the flour salt mixture. Pulse just until crumbly, don’t over mix. Add cold water one tablespoon at a time and pulse each time. Give two or three more pulses, just enough that the dough holds together, but again do not over mix. You should have a nice soft dough that is not sticky but not dry either. Remove dough from processor, cover and set aside.
Pie Filling
About 5-6 peeled, pitted, and sliced organic peaches
5 tablespoons organic flour
1/4 cup organic or coconut sugar
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
1 Tb organic lemon juice, preferably fresh squeezed
2 Tbs organic unsalted butter
Preheat your oven to 425 F
Roll out half of your dough on a floured surface and lift carefully into a glass pie pan. Then roll out other half and cut into 1/2 inch strips.
Place peach slices in large mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl mix flour, sugar, and salt, pour mixture over peaches and toss gently but well, add lemon juice. Pour fruit mixture into dough lined pan and then dot with butter. Don’t forget the butter!
Moisten the edges of the bottom crust and then weave a lattice top. This is not required but sure makes for a pretty pie!
Sprinkle a little bit (or a lot) of organic sugar on top crust before baking. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes. Reduce to 350 and bake another 20-25 minutes until the top is browned. I always put a cookie sheet under the pie as it is baking since sometimes peach juice may bubble out of the top of the pie and make a big mess in the stove. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. Enjoy!!
