This pie combines a crust recipe I got from Kathleen Purvis at the Charlotte Observer with a filling from the 50th Anniversary edition of the Joy of Cooking. Whenever I need to make something basic that I don't really have any experience with, I go to that Joy of Cooking. I decided to switch to a lard crust after I tasted some cookies that my kitchen manager, Hector Gonzales, made one slow night at work. They were made of flour, sugar and lard. This recipe makes enough crust for two pies, but it freezes very well if you want to make one at a time.
The Crust
Makes enough for two lattice top pies or one covered pie
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold and cut into small pieces
4.5 ounces of lard, very cold
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water
Put 1 1/2 cups of the flour in the bowl of a food processor along with the salt and sugar. Pulse briefly. Feed in the butter and lard, pulsing to just coat them with flour. Add the other cup of flour and process until evenly fine (4 or 5 fifteen second pulses). Turn flour out into a mixing bowl. Fold liquids in with a spatula, then knead briefly to form a dough. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour. This crust is very sturdy and cuts well, although the edges are sometimes crumbly. Rigoberto has started to butter and flour the pie pans like you would for a cake. This seems to make them easier to serve if they last more than a day. I have never seen this done before. We use steel pie pans with small holes in the bottoms. They keep the pies from being soggy underneath. This crust works well with both blind baked and raw filled pie recipes.
The Filling
For one pie
3 cups peeled peach slices
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg beaten with a little water
2 tablespoons of butter cut into tiny pieces
Another tablespoon or so of sugar
Mix all the dry ingredients together, then toss with the peach slices. Allow to sit for half an hour.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out half of the above dough recipe into a circle of between an eighth and a quarter of an inch. Line an eight inch pie pan. Trim the edges, then roll the scraps out and cut into strips for the top. Put the peaches in the crust and brush the edges of the crust with some of the egg. Weave the lattice top and press down around the pie edge with a fork, then trim away any excess crust. Brush the lattice with the beaten egg. Dot the top of the exposed fruit with bits of butter and sprinkle the top of the pie with a little sugar. Cooking time will vary a little because some peaches are juicier than others, but start checking after about 45 minutes. The crust should be pretty and brown, the fruit set and bubbling a little, any visible juice, thickened.
For a blackberry pie, use this recipe for the filling and follow the same instructions for rolling the dough and for baking.
4 cups of blackberries
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch mixed dissolved into 1/4 cup of orange juice
1/2 teasppoon cinnamon
Mix everything together and let sit for half an hour before assembling the pie.
