Open Faced Peach Tart

I mentioned in the previous post that I had a couple of entries that should have been posted in August. This is number two. I thought I'd better get it in before it would no longer be relevant to the season.

August is always bittersweet for me; the sun is noticeably setting earlier and earlier and warm days give over to cooler nights, signalling the lazy days of summer coming to an end. But the sweetest part of August is the incredable peaches that are at their peak. Our peaches come from the picturesque Niagara region just a short hour and a half drive south of Toronto, and they are at their peak from around the middle of August to early September. They are wonderfully juicy and sweet to eat as they are, but as a summer dessert, who can resist peaches baked in a flaky pastry?

So here it is, an open faced peach tart that is to die for. I could easily eat this pie all year long. You certainly can get peaches at the market all year long but they are never as good as they are right now, so I try to make as many in this short period as I can and with no regard whatsoever to the state of my waist.

I found this wonderful recipe by Bonnie Stern in the newpaper. If I recall the introduction to this tart recipe correctly, she was at at friend's cottage when she decided she would make an open faced peach tart for dessert. She didn't have a rolling pin to roll out the dough so she used a bottle of wine instead. Now that's what I call quick thinking and making do with what you have on hand. I love making this tart because it is so easy to assemble; just one piece of dough to roll out, no fluted edges to fuss over and no slitting the top.

The pie dough is prepared and set aside.

The peaches are tossed with flour, brown sugar and cinnamon to coat well and centered onto a rolled circle of dough. You must remember to place the dough on parchment paper before adding the filling or you'll never move it onto the baking sheet. I have found the easiest way to do this is after you have rolled out the dough to fold it in half, then in half again and center it over the parchment paper before opening it up again.

The dough is then folded over to encase the peach filling.

And brushed with an egg wash which will give the dough a nice sheen and bake up golden brown.

The pie dough is further enhanced with a sprinkling of turbinado sugar and put into a hot oven to bake.

I like to serve it barely warm with a scoop of ice cream.

To change it up I have added sweet plums along with the peaches

or paired the peaches with blueberries.


Open-Faced Peach Tart

Pastry

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt and sugar
¾ cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
¼ cup ice water or more

Filling

4 large peaches, sliced but not peeled
½ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cold butter diced

Topping
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. coarse sugar

For pastry, place flour, salt and sugar in large bowl. Mix together, Add butter and cut into flour with a pastry blender or your fingertips. Add water and toss mixture until moistened. Lightly knead into a ball. You will probably need an extra few tablespoons of water. You can do all this with a food processor if you have one.

Roll dough out on a floured surface to a 12 inch circle. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Toss peaches in centre of pastry. Fold the edges over the peach mixture overlapping as you go leaving centre open. Brush pastry with egg and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake in a preheated 425 F oven for 20 minutes. Lower heat to 375 F and bake 30 to 40 minutes more, until golden.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Latticed Blueberry Pie

In my last post I made a blueberry pie from Martha Stewart's Pies & Tarts. I didn't lattice the last pie because I thought it would be fussy and since the pie in the book is latticed I thought for my second pie I should at least try it. It turns out it wasn't fussy at all. As a matter of fact the cut out leaf patterned pastry was probably a bit more involved. Who knew? So here it is.

Unfortunately I didn't photograph the weaving of the strips of pastry dough. But it is quite simple to do with alternate flipping of the strips.

I didn't have a fluted pastry wheel so it probably isn't as asthetic as it could have been, but I was pleased with the way it turned out.

The recipe is on the previous post.

Blueberry Pie

Ah June, hockey season is finally over and blueberries are in season, fresh and abundant at the grocery store. On the day that the Stanley Cup would finally be handed over to either Boston or Vancouver I came across the most amazing looking blueberries while shopping. We were having friends over to watch the game and I decided that I would make a blueberry pie for dessert. Normally making a blueberry pie wouldn't even enter my mind (hubby doesn't like blueberries, or most fruit for that matter) but I had recently purchased Martha Stewart's Pie and Tarts and remembered an amazing looking blueberry pie in the book. Martha's version has a latticed topped pie but I find the process of proper "latticing", i.e. weaving the strips of dough, too time consuming so I opted for an easier method of just rolling out the dough and cutting out leaf patterns, with my nifty leaf pattern cutters from William Sonoma that would provide vents to allow the steam to escape and the leaf cutouts would be "glued" over the crust for a decorative finish.


The filling is so easy! Just wash the berries and pick through for any bad ones (I think I discarded only one from a 2 lb. container) and add some sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and lemon juice. This is far easier than making apple pie (which hubby loves - he likes apples) which eliminates the peeling and chopping. The blueberries are piled onto a pastry lined pie plate and topped with the decorative pastry.

The pie is fluted and brushed with milk and sprinkled with a dusting of sugar. Martha brushes her pastry with an egg wash but I find my method also works well. The pie is baked in a hot 400 degree oven for 20 minutes and then the temperature is lowered to 350 degrees and baked for 55 minutes more.

It comes out of the oven golden and beautiful, with some of the bubbling filling oozing from the vents.

After my son had a slice he asked me why I've never made blueberry pie before. Our friends enjoyed it as well, though they weren't happy at all that Vancouver had lost. Hubby on the other hand was so thrilled that Boston won (he was rooting for an original six team) he didn't even notice the pie.

Blueberry Pie

Pastry
(Pate Brisee)
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup of ice water.

Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor (or whisk together by hand in a bowl). Add butter, and pulse (or quickly cut in with a pastry blender or your fingertips) until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some larger pieces remaining. Drizzle 1/4 cup water over mixture. Pulse (or mix with a fork) until mixture just begins to hold together. If dough is too dry, add 1/4 cup more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse ( or mix with a fork).

Divide dough in half onto tow pieces of plastic wrap. Gather into two balls, wrap loosely in plastic, and press each into a disk using a rolling pin. Refrigerate until firm, well wrapped in plastic, 1 hour or up to 1 day. (Dough can be frozen up to 3 months; thaw in refrigerator before using.

Shortening Variation: Replace 1/2 cup of butter with 1/2 cup of cold vegetable shortening cut into to small pieces.

Filling

2 lbs. (about 7 cups) fresh blueberries, picked over and rinsed.
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 large egg yolk, for egg wash (I used milk or cream)
1 tablespoon heavy cream, for egg wash
Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 400 F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk of dough to 13-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate.

In a large bowl, toss together berries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and lemon juice until combined. Pour mixture into pie plate piling in center.

On lightly floured surface, roll out remaining disk of dough to 13-inch round. To make lattice, cut dough into ten 1-inch wide strips using a fluted pastry wheel. Lightly brush edge of dough in pie plate with water. Carefully arrange dough strips on top, weaving to form a lattice. Trim dough to a 1-inch overhang. Fold edges under as desired, and crimp with a fork. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and cream for egg wash; brush on top of dough strips and edge of pie shell. Generously sprinkle with sanding sugar. Refrigerate or freeze pie until firm, about 30 minutes.

Transfer pie plate3 to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, and bake until crust begins to brown, about 20 minutes. Reduce heat o 350 F. Continue baking until crust is deep golden brown and juices bubble, 55 minutes more. (If crust browns too quickly, tent pie with foil.) Transfer pie to a wire rack; let cool completely, at least 3 hours, before serving.

Apple Pie

Every year I make two apple pies to bring to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner. So on that weekend my husband Randy and I go to the apple orchard in King City, a twenty minute drive north from where we live and pick Northern Spy, my favourite pie apple. They are the very best apples (in my opinion) because they are slightly tart and hold their shape beautifully during baking.

I could kick myself this year for not bringing my camera with me. In all the years that we have been picking apples I don’t remember ever seeing trees laden with apples so abundant that they showed no mercy to their branches drooping low to the ground. I was able to fill my bag from one tree leaving plenty for someone else to pick, whereas in past years I would walk the entire row looking for the perfect apple, eventually filling my bag and irritating my husband to no end. Much to his shock I had filled my bag quickly and only had one more bag to fill, but this time with MacIntosh and Cortlands for eating, and there were plenty still on the trees even though picking these varieties had begun earlier.

My family celebrates Thanksgiving on Sunday so that morning I made the pies. I have been using the same recipe for the pastry for years because it works so well for me. My method of making pie dough is the antithesis of everything I have read about pastry as I don’t chill my pastry. I know there is merit to this rule yet my pastry is always very flaky without chilling. I was taught in high school home economics class to never overwork pastry if you want to achieve a flaky crust and I have applied that lesson ever since. After I’ve cut the fat into the flour I use ice water to bind the mixture and I use a fork to lightly stir the mass until it just comes together and then use my hands to ever so gently pat it together to form a ball. I cover the dough and let it rest while I prepare the apples. Hubby had peeled the apples so I just had to cut them up, add the sugars, flour, lemon rind, salt and cinnamon and toss. I lined two glass pie dishes with the pastry, piled in the apples, dotted the filling with some butter and rolled out the remaining pastry to cover the apples. I fluted the edges, cut a few slits to allow the steam to escape, brushed it with a bit of milk and sprinkled turbinado sugar on top and it was ready for the oven.

The aroma of apple and cinnamon wafting through the house was wonderful, no wonder they say if you are selling your home, put a pie in the oven for a quick sale. In about 50 minutes the pies were done.

Served barely warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream it is a heavenly dessert.


Deluxe Apple Pie

Crust
From Crisco’s No Fail Pastry
Make a double crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
1 cup shortening*
6 – 8 tbsp. ice cold water

In a bowl stir flour and salt together. With a pastry blender or two knives cut in cold shortening until it resembles course meal. Add the ice water and with a fork stir the mixture just to combine, do not overwork. When it comes together, gather the mixture with your hands and form into a ball, again not over working the dough. Divide the dough into two portions and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to use.

A mixture or shortening and butter can also be used for a richer crust.

Deluxe Apple Pie
From Five Roses – A Guide to Good Cooking

6 apples, preferably Northern Spy
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. butter
½ tsp. grated lemon rind

Preheat oven to 450 F. Prepare pastry and line a 9” pie plate, reserving some for top crust. Core, peel and slice apples. Combine brown sugar, sugar, flour cinnamon and salt together, then mix with apples. Spread apple mixture into unbaked pastry shell. Dot with butter, sprinkle with lemon rind then cover with top crust, sealing carefully and making slits to allow steam to escape. Bake in a hot oven then reduce heat to 350 F. and bake 30 to 35 minutes.