Saturday, August 16, 2008

Raspberry Peach Pie


To tell you the truth, R thinks I am totally crazy for all of this food blogging business. He doesn’t really understand the enjoyment I get from cooking/baking and sharing the results with the world. It’s ok – I don’t really get his obsession for hockey. To each, his/her own.

But sometimes, this distinction between me and R causes some strife. Take this pie, below, for example. R would have much preferred that I not bake this pie. Yes, he liked the pie – but I don’t think he likes it more than he hated the number of dirty dishes he ended up washing as a result of it. He would be just as content with a bag of Old Dutch chips (a Canadian name brand of chips/crisps) Unfortunately for R, I have many future baking plans in the work.

Like most of the recipes that I attempt, I got most of this pie recipe from the internet. Actually, this recipe is a compilation of three recipes.

First, is the dough. The dough is from Dorie Greenspan. You can see the full recipe copied out here. If you’d like a great tutorial, here’s Smitten Kitchen's post about making dough.

batter

I made the 9-inch single crust. With all of the talk about not mixing dough too much and keeping everything very cold, I was nervous about screwing it up. I was careful to not blend too much.

batter2

I then put the dough in plastic wrap and left it in the fridge over night. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to do this because the dough was quite hard the next day. But I worked it a bit with my hands and it softened up a bit. Actually, by the time I was done with it, it was getting too soft. It’s easy to tell if it’s too soft because it basically starts to come apart in your hand or stick to everything.

dough

Before I could finish setting the dough in the pan, I had to put in the fridge for 5 minutes so that it would stop coming apart on me.

Note: Dorie Greenspan gives instructions for partially baking the crust ahead of time. I didn’t do this.

I knew I wanted to use up some of the fruit that I had bought on the weekend. It’s nice to have fresh fruit (in contrast to the harder, less ripe stuff from the grocery store), but it does require quick usage. In particular, I wanted to use raspberries and peaches.

fruit

I searched around for a recipe and finally came upon Zoe Bakes' Raspberry Peach pie filling. I think she uses Dorie Greenspan’s dough recipe too. Check out her great tutorial on lattice tops. It’s something I’d like to try doing.

For the Filling:

8 ripe, but firm white or yellow peaches, washed and chopped with skins on. (You can also remove the skins (if desired) by blanching the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds and then putting them in an ice bath. The skin should peel off.) – I used 5 ripe peaches.

1 pint raspberries (only a portion of the raspberries I used are visible in the picture, above)

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup brown sugar (depending on the sweetness of the fruit and your taste)

3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

For the filling I chopped up the (at least) 5 white peaches. Toss them with a pint of raspberries and the lemon juice.

fruit2

Combine the brown sugar with the cornstarch, salt and ground ginger in a small bowl. You want to mix all of these ingredients until they are well combined before sprinkling over the fruit. I ended up just mixing the latter ingredients with the fruit and lemon juice in a bowl and then adding it to the pie crust. (Not for any good reason - I just don't always read directions very closely)

pie

Since I didn’t want a double layer of crust, I decided to top the cake off with a crumble layer. I decided to go with a crumble top recipe, found here.

Crumble Top

3/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Walnuts (optional – I didn’t add this)
1/2 Cup Oatmeal
1/2 Cup Butter (cold)
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

I just mixed the ingredients together with a fork and spread it evenly on top of the filling. Actually, I had too much crumble, so I only used about 2-3 of the crumble mixture for the pie.

crumble

I then put the pie in the oven at 350 F for about 45-50 minutes. You may need longer in your oven, mine is fast.

pie2


piefinal

pie3

piefinal2

Verdict:

The pie was excellent. Between the colour, flavour, and texture, I think this was a success.

I’m submitting this pie to Joelen's Pie in my Eye Adventure.

pieineye

StumbleUpon

21 comments:

Bunny said...

This looks sooooo good! My mouth is watering!! Great combination of fruits!

Cakelaw said...

What a gorgeous pie - save a slice for me please!

OhioMom said...

Yummy! Love the combo of peaches and raspberries.

Ivy said...

Psychgrad, yesterday I made my first tart. The base is practically the same and I followed a recipe which did not turn out well. I didn't give up, I added some more flour until I could handle the dough and that was that. Today I made another crust without any recipe to follow and had it ready in 3 minutes. Out of experience from handling other sorts of dough put the dough between cling film and then roll it out. I have never made a sweet pie either and your recipe sounds delicious. I think this will be the next thing I shall try and make.

Beth (jamandcream) said...

My hubby can't underatand why I would want to spend my spare time food blogging!! Anyway the pie looks great, great combo

Adam said...

Why in the world did you put a verdict in? Just look at that pie, it speaks in fruit ooey goodness. The colors are awesome and that crumble crust looks very inviting.

Sure dishes have to be cleaned, but stomachs have to be happy too :)

kat said...

peach & raspberry, what a heavenly combination!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Fruit pies have to be the best thing next to sliced bread...

Anonymous said...

I could almost taste that. Two of my favorite fruits, too. Looks totally yummy. Nice instruction manual, too!

Anonymous said...

That pie looks worth every dish! Wow, just beautiful!

grace said...

this is one combination of fruits that i've yet to try, but given the sweet juiciness of peaches and the tart taste of raspberries, i think it'd be a winner. and of course, a crumble topping can never be wrong--nicely done! :)

Laura Paterson said...

My bf begs me to 'just make pasta' or 'order in'... He loves my cooking, but I think he gets fed up sitting by himself whilst I cook... then he has to face all the dishes afterwards!!

Oh well ;)

This pie looks absolutely delicious!

Rosie said...

I just adore this gorgeous pie - oooh what would I give for a slice of that pie now ;)

Rosie x

glamah16 said...

I bet it was excellent. Great combo.

That Girl said...

I love that you use butter and shortening in your pie crust. I feel like I'm always defending my decision to do that.

Deborah said...

I stink at making double crusted pies, so I almost always do a crumble top. This one sounds so delicious!

test it comm said...

That looks so good! Peach and raspberries sound like a perfect combo for a pie.

Anonymous said...

Wow thanks for the mouthwatering step by step. I'm so inspired and confident that I can make this now.

Rajani said...

pie looks extremely tempting!!!!!! and dangerously addictive as well!

Elle said...

Oh my gosh, making pie is one of those things that is so difficult for me. Well, the crust, anyway. This looks fabulous, and the filling? Perfection!

Grad007 said...

That pie looks delicious. I love your food blog too. I work at home on my thesis, and taking a break to cook up a meal is one of my favorite activities ;-) I even like washing the dishes afterwards!

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