Peach Pie

One word. Yum! 

I can't believe how well this pie turned out.  It wasn't soupy or overly sweet, the bottom crust wasn't soggy or undercooked.  The pie also set and cut very well.  The piece cut and the remaining pie held its form.  It was by far one of the best peach pie's both I and my husband has had.  He loves pie and raved about how good the crust was, and how the peaches maintained their natural flavor.

So how did I make it?  This pie was time consuming, I'm not going to lie.  However, it was not overly difficult.  I am usually intimidated making pies because of soupy insides, soggy crust, and pieces that fall apart when you cut them.  For this pie I used the Basic Double-Crust Pie Dough recipe, which called for 2 parts flour to 1 part fat.  The fat was key in this crust.  It called for a stick and a half of butter and a 1/2 cup vegetable shortening.  Now I most would use Crisco for the shortening.  I don't like Crisco. I think it is unnatural and unhealthy.  Instead I used Spectrum Organic Vegetable Shortening and it seemed to work just fine.  The recipe also recommended that I use a lattice-top structure to allow for maximum evaporation while the pie cooks so that some of the peach juices cook down making the filling not as soupy.  The other technique that helped with the juices was to let the sliced peaches sit in the sugar for a while and then drain most of the liquid.  Like I said before this was a time consuming pie due to a lot of waiting for crusts to chill and peaches to get juicy.  But overall this pie was fairly simple to prepare.  The only complaint I have is my poor crimping skills.  I suppose that will get better with time.

On the menu for tomorrow is:

 Slow-Roasted Beef with Horseradish Cream Sauce
Smashed Potatoes
I'm also going to make a box of King Arthur Flour Soft Dinner Rolls