Secrets to a Delicious Homemade Peach Pie

There are two times during the year where peaches are center stage. One is in May, when our peach tree sheds its fuzzy juicy fruit. The other is in September/October when the famous Utah peaches are ripe and available for purchase. Fortunately we have connections and I just received a 32 lb. box of tree picked peaches. I am making many recipes with this stone fruit, but the favorite is a classic peach pie.  

I have made many peach pies before, but because they are SO juicy, the bottom crust often suffers from the wet and soggy syndrome. Since this pie is to be dessert at a friend’s house, I am determined to find a solution.

Sourcing a Reliable Recipe

I google a peach pie recipe from Serious Eats, as I have had good recipes from them in the past. For the pie crust, I use my very easy homemade pie crust recipe (see here). Making the dough with my food processor, takes only a few minutes. While the dough is in the refrigerator chilling, I prepare the peaches.

Note: if you do not want to make your own pie crust, use a store-bought one. My favorite is Trader Joe’s. Unfortunately, these frozen pie crusts are only available during the fall/winter season.Right now they are in stock and I need to buy my winter stash. Each box holds two crusts.

To Peel or Not to Peel

Often times, you find peaches from the market but they are hard and without scent. To speed up the ripening, put them in a paper bag with a ripe banana and viola! In just one overnight, they are ripe enough and perfect for pie making!

I typically don’t peel my peaches for pie-making, so this is a first for me. Note: Peeling is optional.

Drop the fresh peaches into a large pot of boiling water.  Do not crowd the peaches.  Boil for 30-40 seconds.

Remove the peaches and immediately place in an ice bath. Cool for 1 minute.

The skins will easily separate from the fruit.

Prep and Assembly

The recipe calls for each peach to be cut into 8 pieces, but these were exceptionally large peaches so I cut them into chunks.

Add the cornstarch, sugar and lime zest and mix. If you don’t have this fabulous microplane to zest your limes, you must get one! It is very versatile and can be used for many things-cheese, whole nutmeg, chocolate, and zesting any fruit.

Fill the chilled bottom crust with peach filling. Now this is key~chilling the pie crust helps prevent soggy bottoms.

I love a high pie so abundance in the filling is a must.

Adding the Top Crust

Keeping the top pie crust chilled is an important element too and will result in better baking.  There are many ways to put on the top crust~either use the whole crust or get a little creative in your design.

Who doesn’t love a lattice crust? It is a bit more work but the end result is so attractive. I cut the top crust into strips for a basket weave pattern. Using a pastry wheel would make the edges of the lattice strips much more attractive. You can make the strips different widths~there is no hard and fast rule. I refrigerate these on a floured sheet pan until I am ready to assemble.

Apply the strips in one direction one at a time, evenly spaced over the filling.

Alternate lifting up and laying down perpendicular strips until you have successfully completed a basket weave pattern for the top crust.

Trim off the excess pie crust edges.

Using a fork, crimp the outer edge of the pie to seal in the filling.

Brush the crust with a beaten egg and salt.

Sprinkle the top with sugar and then chill the entire pie for a minimum of 20 minutes.  Do not skip this step.

Baking Instructions

Place in the preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Then drop the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and the filling is bubbling over.

I add a pie crust shield mid-bake to prevent the edges from browning too quickly. If you don’t have a pie shield, use strips of aluminum foil and tent it around the edges of the pie.

Ta-Da!

Here it is! The juices were bubbling and dripping out of the pie. Note to self: while pie is baking, put a pan beneath it or a piece of foil as the sweet drippings were stuck all over the bottom of my oven.

I think I could have left this in the oven for a few more minutes as I like a more golden top.

We brought the pie with some homemade vanilla ice cream to friend’s house and failed to take any pictures of a cut piece.

However, it is DELICIOUS!  Lots of peach pie juice, but the crust is NOT wet or soggy.  I believe keeping the crust cold and then chilling the pie before baking is the key.

Final Notes

1. I used a 9″ deep dish pie dish.  The recipe calls for a 9″ pie pan.
2. I didn’t weigh my peaches so it’s highly possible I had over 4 lbs.
3. The recipe instructs you to turn the pie dish while baking to help with even browning.
4. You make any style of top crust you would like.
5. Usually I add pieces of butter to a peach pie before baking, but didn’t do so this time.  There wasn’t any noticeable difference in the flavor.
6. The pie has quite a bit of juice.  However, the bottom crust was not soggy. Yippee!
7. The homemade ice cream is made in a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker.  It takes 20 minutes to make and a few hours to freeze.  Using only a few fresh ingredients, it is worthwhile to make.