It was nearly 20 years ago when I packed up my house in the Pacific Northwest and moved to the Midwest; I didn’t know anyone here other than a few young adults from my church who were attending the same college I was going to attend. August was also the first time I’d ever heard a cicada – and while I was driving through Iowa I thought to myself, ‘Those are some crazy loud power lines!’ I was such a rookie.
August was also the first time I’d ever seen a firefly and I remember standing in my apartment at midnight peering out into the pitch-black backyard being wooed by their blinking lights; prior to moving here, I honest-to-goodness believed fireflies only existed in fairy tales – right along with fairies and gnomes. I was such a rookie.
Cicadas and fireflies mean that the temperature is hot and the humidity hangs in the air so thick my clothing sticks to my skin and my naturally wavy hair announces to the world, ‘I’m large and in charge!’
August means corn is sweet, green beans, squash, eggplant and tomatoes are plentiful and both blueberries and peaches are sweet and juicy.
And August also reminds me this was the time of year when I drove across the country not knowing my life was about to change . . . because I was going to meet the man I would give my heart to forever . . . my Professor.
NOTE: I have made pie crust with egg and without egg, with vinegar and without vinegar; if you’re new to gluten-free or struggle with making crust, I believe adding both egg and vinegar makes the dough easier to roll out and get into your pie plate. Additionally, I have found that cold ingredients make a better crust; if you can, let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes prior to rolling out (overnight is better but sometimes you just can’t wait to make pie!)
And finally, I made the streusel first and put it in the refrigerator, then I made the crust and placed it in the refrigerator; then I peeled the peaches and made the filling, dusted the bottom of the crust with ‘crust dust’, filled the shell, topped with streusel and baked. You are free to make your pie in whatever order makes sense to you – the key is for the crust to be cold when going into the hot oven.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE PIE:
Makes 1, 9-inch pie
- 1 gluten-free crust (recipe to follow)
- 6 cups sliced peaches, skins removed, sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces (freestone peaches work best)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon zest
- 1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste (can sub pure vanilla extract)
- 1 Tablespoon OYO Stone Fruit vodka (optional)
- ¼ cup potato starch
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- Crust Dust (recipe to follow)
- Almond Streusel (recipe to follow)
INGREDIENTS FOR THE STREUSEL:
- 50 grams almond flour
- 50 grams potato starch
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- pinch kosher salt
- 100 grams cold, unsalted butter cut into ¼-inch pieces
METHOD:
- Combine all of the ingredients except the butter into a large bowl and mix well
- Add the butter and either with your fingers or a pastry cutter, mix butter into flour mixture until the butter is incorporated with no large chunks remaining
- Refrigerate until ready to use; use streusel cold
INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST:
Makes enough for two 9-inch crusts
- 375 grams Gluten-free AP flour mix, cold (works best if cold)
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum (OMIT if your flour mix has xanthan gum already added)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 12 Tbsp unsalted butter, cubed and frozen or well-chilled
- ¼ cup mascarpone cheese (cream cheese works too)
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 4 Tablespoon ice water (1-2 Tablespoons more if needed)
METHOD FOR THE CRUST:
- Place GF flour-mix, xanthan gum (if using), salt, sugar and baking powder into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 3-4 times to blend
- Add butter and pulse until some of the cubes have blended but will still look chunky – about 8 pulses
- Mix mascarpone cheese, cider vinegar, egg and water in a small bowl and add to the flour-butter mixture; pulse again until the mixture has some larger chunks as well as pea-sized pieces; the dough should just start to come together along the sides of the bowl
- Squeeze a small amount in your hand and it should hold together; if it doesn’t or still feels dry, add more water, 1 Tablespoon at a time – no more than 2 Tablespoons total. Give the food processor another couple of pulses until the dough begins to form a ball
- Empty the dough onto the center of a sheet of plastic wrap and gently press together until the dough comes together in a ball; flatten into a disk, wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 15-minutes
- Remove from refrigerator and preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Place one disk between 2 pieces of parchment and roll – size of dough should be approximately 2-inches larger than the dish/pan you are using
- Remove top piece of parchment and carefully, turn the bottom parchment over so that the crust is now able to be placed into pie tin
- Gently peel parchment from the crust and nestle the crust into your pie tin; no worries if it tears or is a bit thin near the edges – you’ll use any trimmings to fill in where needed and once the pie is filled and baked, no one is the wiser!
- Sprinkle with Crust Dust, flute or crimp edges and place in the freezer for about 10-minutes before filling
INGREDIENTS FOR THE CRUST DUST:
Equal parts GF flour mix and granulated sugar; place in a jar with tight-fitting lid and shake well. I usually mix ½ cup GF flour mix with ½ cup granulated sugar, shake and store unused ‘dust’ on the counter.
METHOD FOR THE PIE:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
- Skin peaches by placing a small ‘x’ on the bottom of each peach and carefully dropping them into a large pot of boiling water; remove after 3-minutes to a sheet pan and when they’re cool enough to handle, peel the skins, remove the pits and slice
- Place sliced peaches in a large glass bowl; add zest, lemon juice, vanilla paste and vodka (if using); toss to coat
- Combine sugar, potato starch and kosher salt in a medium-sized bowl and whisk until well blended; pour mixture over peaches and gently toss with a rubber spatula or your hands until most of the dry ingredients cling to the peaches
- Sprinkle about 2 Tablespoons (thin layer) of the crust dust on the bottom of the uncooked pie shell; pour peach mixture into shell, making sure to scrape out all of any of the contents clinging to the sides of the bowl
- Smooth the filling with a spatula and sprinkle with almond streusel
- Set in the refrigerator for 15-minutes
- Remove from refrigerator and place on a foil-lined baking tray
- Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour, 20 minutes, rotating a half-turn every 20-minutes until streusel is a golden brown and juices are bubbling. If the streusel begins to brown too quickly, lay a piece of aluminum foil on the top (no need to seal) and continue to bake until pie is done