Recipe: Fresh Peach Pie

Fresh Peach Pie

Ingredients:
9" Pie Crust (top and bottom)  =)
5 Freestone Peaches or Approximately 3 lbs
Notes:  Freestone peach flesh does not stick to the pit, so they are preferred for eating out-of-hand. They tend to be larger and less juicy than clingstone peaches.
Sugar 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar 1 Tsp (Optional for decoration)
Salt 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon Small pinch
Grounded Ginger 1/4 tsp
Cayenne Small pinch
Lemon juice 1 Tsp or 1/2 lemon juice
Flour 1/4 cup or 1/4 cup of Tapioca
Cornstarch 1 Tsp
Egg Wash:  Mix Egg Yolk 1 + Milk 1 tsp

Method to cook Tapioca:
1.  Boil a pot of water.
2.  Once boiled, add the mini tapioca pearls in batches and slowly.
3.  Turn heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes or until pearls are transparent.
4.  Turn off heat and pour transparent pearls through a fine mesh and run them in cold water.
5.  In a cup of cold water, soak the cooked pearls for 10 minutes and set aside.
6.  Drain and set aside after 10 minutes.


Methods to Bake Peach Pie: Wash, peel, and taste preaches sweetness to determine how much sugar to use

Note:  If peaches are very sweet, use only 1/2 cup of sugar.  Otherwise, use the full 1 cup.

Cut peaches into mid-size pieces (e.g. 1/2" thick and 1 1/2" long)

Place cut pieces into a large mixing bowl

Add 1/2 cup of the sugar into the peaches with 1/4 tsp of salt

Mix well and set aside for 30 minutes for the peaches to extract the juice

Prepare a drainer to drain the peach juice to make syrup

In a small bowl, mix flour (if use), the other 1/2 of the sugar, and 1 Tsp or cornstarch together and set aside

30 minutes later, drain the peach juice through a drainer into a small pot/pan for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is thickened in medium heat

Return the peaches to the large mixing bowl and add small pinch of cinnamon and cayenne, grounded ginger, lemon juice, cooked tapioca (if used) and dry mixture

Add the thickened peach liquid and mix well

Pour the peaches into the pie crust slowly and shake and slightly tap the pie to let the peaches settled in

Put pressure on the pie top and bottom crust to seal the pie and to keep the pie filling from overflowing when baking

Then, crimp the pie edge

Preheat oven at 425F

Put the pie into the freezer for about 20 minutes to let the pie filling and crust to settle before baking

Remove pie from freezer and cut four slits on the pie top to let steam escape during baking

Brush the egg wash onto the pie surface and crust

(Optional) Sprinkle brown sugar on top of pie

Prepare a baking sheet and line it with a parchment paper or foil for easy cleaning, then place a cookie rack on it

Put pie on the cookie sheet and into the 425F oven for 10 minutes

10 minutes later, lower the oven temperature to 375F for about 1 hour or until the juices are bubbling on top of the pie

Remove pie from oven and let it COOL COMPLETELY before serving otherwise the pie filling will fall apart and that's not good eats

Note:  Serve a piece of peach pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream will be complete.