My Aunt Carolyn’s baking is the stuff of legend. Back home The Pie Gene is spoken of with reverance and whether or not you have it can make or break your success in the kitchen, or so say the women on the Wilson side of my family.
Recently, I mustered up the courage to call Aunt Carolyn and ask for the oft-coveted “pie crust recipe and TIPS.” My mother swears obtaining Carolyn’s tips is of utmost importance since she surely “does something” that makes the crust so perfect and delicious.
Id’ say the results of my baking experiment were fairly conclusive. If Maury were revealing them like a paternity test, he might say there was a 99.9% chance I had The Pie Gene. My crust came out golden and flaky, flavorful but subtle – the perfect home for some exquisite late summer peaches. Here’s how I did it:
The Crust:
♦ 3 Cups all-purpose flour
♦ 1 Cup Crisco vegetable shortening
***TIP: Aunt Carolyn suggests using the butter-themed Crisco for a “prettier” (read: more golden) crust. I used regular Crisco, which works fine.
♦ 1/2 teaspoon salt, slightly heaping
- Mix these ingredients until crumbly, then refrigerate.
***TIP: You can prepare as much of this mixture as you like ahead of time, then store it in the fridge until you’re ready to make pie. The colder the mix is, the better your crust will come together. I let mine chill about 2 hours. The amount I mixed here is enough for a 9” pie, and there will be some excess.
While your crust mix chills, prepare The Peaches:
♦ 5-6 medium, ripe peaches – eyeball it for the depth of your pie pan.
♦ 1/4 Cup brown sugar – more or less, depending on how sweet your peaches are.
♦ ground nutmeg and cinnamon, to taste
♦ a few cranks of freshly ground black pepper
♦ 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
♦ 2 Tablespoons cornstarch – more or less, you want the mix to thicken and become a bit creamy. If your peaches are especially juicy, you may need to add more cornstarch – if not, use less.
***TIP: Here, I’ve dared to deviate a bit from Aunt Carolyn’s recipe. She calls for 1/3 Cup granulated sugar; 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, heaping; and a pinch each of ground nutmeg and cinnamon.
In my case, the peaches were quite sweet, and I prefer the taste of brown sugar to white – but go with what you like. I also am a big fan of spice, so I used a good dusting of nutmeg and cinnamon rather than just a pinch. The addition of black pepper gives the peaches a certain extra… something. Something good that people can’t quite place. The lemon juice just keeps things tasting fresh and zingy.
- Peel and slice the peaches, then mix all that stuff together and set it aside – if you don’t plan to bake for a while, stash your fruit in the fridge, then bring it up to room temperature while you roll the dough. If you’re baking right away, leave the peach mixture out – having the filling at room temperature helps everything to bake more evenly.
OK – so the easy parts are done. Dough crumbles are chillin’, peaches are too – now you’re ready to bring the crust together.
***This would be a good time to set your oven to bake at 350 degrees.***
The Crust, Phase 2:
♦ Grab the crumbly dough mix out of the fridge
♦ Fix a glass of ice water and set nearby
♦ Put some plain, dry flour in a bowl and set alongside the ice water
- Add the ice water just a little bit at a time until the dough begins to come together. Use a fork to mix in the first additions of water, then switch to your hands. You’ll just have to feel when it’s right – the dough should come together in a firm, smooth ball – it should not be sticky or too dry. Really, erring on the side of dry is better since you can always add more water, but you can’t take it away. Try not to knead it too much or the crust will be tough.
- Once your dough has come together, divide it into two roughly equal balls, one for the top crust and one for the bottom.
- Grab one of the dough balls and set it on a floured surface, dust it and your rolling pin with more flour, then roll that sucka out. The crust should be around 1/4 inch thick - if it is tearing at the edges or coming apart, just reseal the crack with some cold water. Dip your finger in, wet the offending crust and press it back together. Patience is necessary.
- Once your crust is large enough to cover your lightly buttered pie pan, gently press it into the bottom and sides. Excess crust should hang over the pie plate.
- Roll out the other dough ball, set aside and get ready to fill the pie.
- Spoon the peach mixture into the bottom crust, filling evenly.
- Once it’s full, sprinkle some pats of butter evenly across the surface.
- Trace the edge of the bottom crust with ice water, then set the top crust on the pie and gently press the edges down.
- Trim off any excess crust.
- Using your fingers, pinch the top and bottom crusts together to seal the pie. There are tons of methods to do this: squish them down with a fork, fold it over for a wall-like effect – I just pinched them together, which looks quite pretty.
- Cut a few slits in the top crust for vents, then brush the top of the pie with milk and dust with granulated sugar.
***TIP: The milk and sugar are per Aunt Carolyn, and I totally think it makes a difference. The crust comes out all golden and sparkly.
- Place the ready-to-bake pie on a cookie sheet and into the 350-degree oven for about an hour, more or less. Just keep an eye on it.
- When your crust is golden brown and the peaches are “really bubbling out of the vents,” so sayeth Aunt Carolyn, the pie is done. Remove it from the oven and let it sit ONE HOUR at minimum.
Now, I could not wait for my pie to sit an hour to eat it, and consequently its filling oozed out when I cut into it. If you let it sit an hour, it’ll still be warm and the filling should have set up well. If you don’t it’ll still taste fantastic, but it won’t look as pretty.
Fortunately, I don’t worry too much about aesthetics.
There you have it. Serve with vanilla ice cream, rinse and repeat. You’ll want to. This old-fashioned peach pie is well worth trying, Pie Gene or no. Sure, there’s effort and time involved, but there are few better ways to showcase this late summer fruit, as anyone you share it with will surely agree.
