Brigham City Peach Pie

This might be my favorite part of summer: the nights and mornings get just chilly enough for tea and slippers, the afternoons turn golden, the students head back up the hill to school, and the peaches are ON! When we got our first bag of peaches this year, R and I stood over the sink, letting the juices fall from our chins, and we looked at each other, nodded, and said, "Yup. It's that time of year again."


I made four peach pies today (four!) for the sorority girls. 32 slices, 25 girls...hmm, what to do, what to do...


It's definitely time to stop hating on the pre-fab pie crusts. The hardest and most time-consuming part of piemaking for most people (that includes me) is the crust, and while you can't beat homemade, daaaaang, Pillsbury comes kinda close.


Brigham City Peach Pie
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated: The New Best Recipe

1 box Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts
6-7 medium, ripe peaches
1 T lemon juice
1 c plus 1 T sugar
Pinch each ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt
5 T Minute tapioca, ground for a minute in a food processor

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl filled with with cold water and ice cubes. Score a small X on the bottom of each peach. Blanch and shock the peaches by boiling them for 1 minute, then plunging them into the cold water bath for 1 minute. Peel the peaches and cut them into 1/2-inch slices.

2. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Line a pie plate with one of the pie crusts. Toss the peaches with the lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, spices, salt, and tapioca in a medium bowl. Turn the peaches into the pie crust and top with the remaining pie crust; crimp edges. Brush 1 T water over the top and sprinkle with the remaining 1 T sugar.

3. Lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Bake until the top begins to brown, 25-30 minutes. Rotate the pie and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees; continue baking until the crust is deep golden brown, 25-30 minutes more. Cool the pie on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before serving.