Summer means peach season and it's time for the peach festival in town and time to eat a peach pie. Here's our favorite peach pie recipe to share with you!
Start by making the crust. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and a teaspoon of salt. Add in the chilled shortening and cut it in with a pastry cutter or two butter knives. Once that’s looking crumbly, cut in the chilled butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Work quickly to keep the ingredients cold.
Sprinkle 5-6 tablespoons of ice water into the mixture and stir it in until it forms a dough (if you’re in a dry climate, you may need a couple extra tablespoons). Divide the dough into two pieces and place each one on a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten them into disks, wrap them up, and put them in the fridge for at least an hour.
To peel the peaches, bring a pot of water to a boil and prepare an ice bath. Cut an x in the bottom of each peach. Blanch the peaches in boiling water for 40-60 seconds (less time for really ripe peaches, more time for peaches that might be a little less ripe). Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and dunk into the ice bath. Let them cool in the ice water for at least a minute, and the peel will come right off!
Once the dough is ready to roll, adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on the rack, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Toss the pitted, sliced peaches with ¾-1 cup sugar (depending on how tart/sweet your peaches are), 3 tablespoons tapioca starch, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
Take one of the dough disks out of the fridge and let it sit for a couple minutes. Sprinkle some flour onto a clean surface, and roll the crust into a 12-inch circle. Spread it into the pie pan. Check your fruit at this point. If it’s looking like the peaches released a lot of juice, stir in up to 2 more tablespoons of the tapioca starch.
Roll out the other disk into a 10-inch circle. Spread the peaches into the piecrust bottom and lay the top crust over the pie. Seal and crimp the edges and cut six vent holes in the top. Lightly brush the pie with egg white and sprinkle with the last teaspoon of sugar.
Place the pie on the heated baking sheet and lower the temperature to 425 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes. Then rotate the baking sheet, reduce the oven temperature again to 375 degrees, and bake for another 30-35 minutes, until the juices are bubbling and the crust is a deep golden brown. Cool to room temperature before slicing.