I make this pie once a year to celebrate
the peak of the peach harvest.
It is superlative.
crust:
1 cup chilled flour
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup chilled leaf lard or shortening
1 Tablespoon chilled butter
2 Tablespoons ice water (½ teaspoon – ½ Tablespoon more if
needed)
filling:
1 egg (or 2 egg yolks)
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar
⅓ cup melted butter
several fresh peaches, halved and peeled
prepare crust:
- Sift
together flour and salt.
- Combine
lard and butter. Cut ½ of lard
mixture into the flour mixture with pastry blender until it has grain of
cornmeal
- Cut
remaining half coarsely into the dough until it is pea size.
- Sprinkle
dough lightly with ice water, pushing wetted dough away to one side of
bowl as you sprinkle.
- When
you can gather dough into a ball, stop handling it.
- Refrigerate
until 1 hour before use: allow it to come to room temperature. Pinch off just enough dough for one pie
shell and press it into approximate shape needed. Roll as lightly and as little as
possible.
prepare filling:
- Preheat
oven to 400°.
Line pie pan with dough.
- Beat
together egg, flour, sugar and butter.
- Place
peach halves cut-side up in pie shell. Fill in with smaller pieces of
peach.
- Pour
egg mixture over the top.
- For
top crust, cut stars from leftover pie dough with cookie-cutters and
scatter over top of pie, overlapping as desired.
- Bake
15 minutes, then reduce heat to 300°
and bake about 50 minutes more.
