Peach Almond Pie - Updated

As we approach the Fall season we start to lend ourselves to some of our more rustic favorites.  Fall for me, means that it's time for pie!  A lot of people have asked me how I make a nice flaky pie crust.  Today we're going to learn how to do it :)

I have also made a couple of youtube videos to help illustrate this lesson.  I found our new(er) webcam so the quality is much better than the last video.

Part 1 - Making the Crust

Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 Cups  All Purpose Flour
- 1 Cup  butter -- cut up into chunks
- 1 Tablespoon  Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons  Sour Cream
- 1/4 Teaspoon  Salt
- 1/4 cup + 1-3 Tablespoons Ice Water

When making this recipe your are going to break up your butter into small pieces.  These pieces are the key to making a flaky crust.  The reasoning behind this is that when you roll the dough out, the small pieces will flatten and be spread out throughout the dough.  When you bake the crust, the small disks of butter start to puff up and make the crust flaky.

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the Flour Sugar and Salt together to make sure everything is evenly mixed together.  You don't want to have any 'blobs' of salt in there.

2. Add your butter to the flour mixture.  By hand, start to break up the chunks of butter into small pea sized pieces.

3. Add the Sour Cream and 1/4 cup of Ice Water to the mixture. Mix everything together until all the ingredients start to come together. Add more water if necessary, you don't want things to be too dry or too wet.

4. When everything comes together, put it back in your bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.  All it to rest at least 30 minutes, but ideally 1-2 hours to let the gluten relax.

To see my tutorial, click HERE!

Part 2 - Making the Filling and Filling the Pie!


Ingredients:

- 11-12 Ripe Peaches (Skinless), and cut into slices.
- 1/2 Cup Vanilla Yogurt
- 1-2 tsp Almond Extract (optional)
- 1-2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 Cup Flour
- 100ml 35% Cream
- 1/2 Cup Sliced Almonds


Directions

Just in case if you don't know how to get the skin off of your peaches, lets start there.  You will need 3 things.  A pot of water at a rolling boil, a bowl of ice water, and a slotted spoon.

1. Cut a cross onto the bottom of each peach

2. Put the peached 3-4 at a time into to boiling water for 45 seconds.  You are trying to loosen the skin, not cook the peaches

3. Use your slotted spoon to put the peaches into your bowl of ice water.

4. One they have cooled down, transfer them to a bowl and let them rest for at least 10 minutes.


5. The skin should peel right off.  If it doesn't just use a paring knife to loosen or peel the skin off.


Now lets make that Filling!

1. Put your slices peaches into a large bowl and add the yogurt, cinnamon, flour and cream.

2. Add the almond extract if you are making an almond peach pie.  Mix all the ingredients together.

3. Once everything is mixed thoroughly, fold in the sliced almonds, being careful not to break them up too much.


Now that you have made the filling, you're pie dough is probably ready to roll out.

1. Make sure you thoroughly flour your work surface and rolling pin.  You DON'T want your dough to stick to the counter since it is a huge pain to get it off in one piece.

2. Roll out your dough to about 1/8" thickness.  Fit the dough into your pie plate and make sure the dough is touching the bottom edge.

3. Trim around the edge of the dough, but leave about a 1/2" over the rim of the plate so that it will still fit after the gluten relaxes.  I usually use a pair is scissors to do this.

4. Add the filling to your empty crust.

5. If you are going to put a crust on the top, roll out another piece that will fit on top.  You can brush water or egg wash on the edge of the bottom crust before you put the top piece on if you really want to seal the edges.

6. Cut a vent in the top and put it in the oven at 400F for 45-60 minutes.

**If you want to do a Crumble Topping instead of a top crust, this is what I would recommend:

Ingredients:

- 1/2 Cup Butter
- 1 Cup Oats
- 1/2 Cup Flour
- 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Ground Almonds

1. Add all the ingredients to a medium to large bowl.

2. Mix everything by hand until it is all thoroughly mixed together.  You want to have chunks that are made of all the various ingredients.

3. Just add this to the top of your pie instead of a top crust and bake at 400F for 45-60 minutes.

To see the second part of my tutorial click HERE!

*Bake the pies until they are golden Brown and let them cool for 2-3 hours.


Nutritional Information:

Pie Crust: Based on 2 Pies with 8 pieces each.

Filling: Based on 2 Pies with 8 pieces each.

Crumble Topping: Based on 1 Pie with 8 pieces.

As always, leave and questions, concerns or ideas in the comment section below ↓