Peach Galette with Almond Buttermilk Crust

This May, my family all came home to Indiana to celebrate my grandmother's 85th birthday. We were sitting around the dining room table, swapping stories when my uncle Brett told us why he can no longer eat peaches:

It was summer, in rural northern Indiana, and my uncle, who was in high school, was broke. He and his friend went looking for odd jobs, and Don Eberly, the local apple orchardist and retired school bus driver (who I've written about previously here), said that he'd pay Brett and his friend to drive up to an orchard in Michigan, pick up a haul of peaches, and bring them back. Desperate for cash, they agreed, spending the last of their money on gas for the trip, north of Grand Rapids. On the way home, the back of their truck filled with peach crates, they were starving, but had no money left for food. So they hauled a crate into the cab, set it between them, and ate peaches all the way home, throwing pit after pit out of the open windows. When they got back, they got their money, but were completely sick on peaches, and to this day Brett is nauseated by the taste and smell of them.

I'm glad I've never had such an experience. To me, there's nothing like a fresh peach in the summer time. It's almost unbelievable that something so sweet and juicy is even real. I actually think I favor fresh peaches over baked, but this galette recipe allows the slices to still maintain their integrity, avoiding the goopy, gelatinous mess that you find in some peach pies when the steam captured by a double crust breaks down the fruit. You can use the standard Nothing in the House pie crust recipe for this-- it'll be flakier-- but this is more of a biscuit crust, with the added texture of the almond meal pairing well with the sweet stone fruit.



Peach Galette with Almond Buttermilk Crust

Ingredients
For the crust:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup buttermilk

For the filling:
7-8 peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used bourbon barrel-aged)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Turbinado sugar (for dusting)
1 large beaten egg + 1 Tablespoon whole milk or cream (for egg wash)

Directions
1. For the crust In a large bowl, whisk together flour, almond meal, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter cubes using a pastry cutter or knife and fork until texture resembles cornmeal and peas. Stir in the buttermilk with a wooden spoon. Mix until dough comes together, but is not overly mixed (it should be a little shaggy). Form into a ball and flatten into a disc. Wrap the disc tightly with plastic wrap, and let chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. 

2. In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients until homogenous. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

3. Roll out crust in a large circle or oval on a piece of parchment and transfer crust with parchment to a large baking sheet. Ladle peach filling onto rolled crust, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold up the pastry over the edges of the filling, leaving most of the peaches uncovered. 

4. Place galette in freezer for 20-30 minutes while the oven preheats. Once chilled, remove galette from fridge and brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with the remaining 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Bake tart in the middle rack of the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and pastry is golden brown. Let the tart cool completely. Serve just warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

Related recipes:
Apricot Galette with Cornmeal Crust
"Old Fashioned" Cherry Galette
Peach-Pecan Pie
Peach Pie with a Sweet Basil Glaze
Peach-Sorghum Pandowdy with Cornmeal Biscuits
Surry County Peach Sonker with Dip
White Nectarine Frangipane Tart with Homemade Puff Pastry

"Old Fashioned" Peach Blackberry Pie for The Joy of Cooking

The Joy of Cooking was one of the first cookbooks I learned to bake from growing up, so I was thrilled and rather honored when Megan Scott, 4th generation writer and baker in the Joy family, asked me to write a guest post for The Joy of Cooking blog.

Finding myself in Kentucky for the month of July, living in a house surrounded by blackberry bushes, I worked up this "Old Fashioned" (as in bourbon & bitters) Peach Blackberry Pie. To accompany the recipe, I wrote a little about the connection between pie and place, and the ways we ground ourselves in new environments.

You can find it all on The Joy blog here, and stay tuned next week, when Megan will share a guest post and recipe with Nothing in the House.

Related recipes:
Peach-Blackberry Cobbler
Peach-Pecan Pie
Peach Pie with a Sweet Basil Glaze

Peach Pie with a Sweet Basil Glaze

This morning, I went to church. It's something I rarely do, but today, Donna Schaper was up from the city and speaking at the one-room Presbyterian church here in Rensselaerville. From what Molly had told me about Donna's feminist ideals, involvement with Occupy, and the 29 books she's written, I wanted to hear her talk.

The sermon was about measurability and immeasurability and how they are not, in fact, opposites, but accomplices. She spoke of how both are useful;  that the measurable--how much we pay for something, how much salt we put in a recipe, or how much dosage of a medicine we are prescribed-- are necessary. But the immeasurable is what really matters-- what, when leading a moral or spiritual or religious life, is most important.

The sermon made me think of the pie baking lesson I gave this week. One of the LongHouse scholars, Sophia, had previously been through a pie making disaster the week before (though she is generally a wonder in the kitchen!) and asked me for help. So on Monday morning, we set up in Molly's blue kitchen, each with our own measuring cups, ingredients, and large mixing bowls. I gave Sophia the proportions of my pie crust recipe-- 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 sticks of butter, 1 tsp. salt... and we started measuring and mixing.

But I also showed her what a crust should look like-- how it should feel as it comes together in your hands, when it's too dry or too wet or overworked, and when it's just right. I showed her how to transfer the dough to the pan by curling it up around the rolling pin (a favorite trick) and how to adapt recipes for other fillings and pies to come. 

In this case, both measurable and immeasurable were important, but it is the unquantifiable that will help her to become a confident life-long baker who can tweak recipes and add her own creative touch. As I responded to her questions and considered the best way to explain what "cornmeal and peas" looks like, I also found myself learning how to be a better teacher, but not in a way you could measure with teaspoon or tablespoon, cup or ounce.

While I made a classic peach pie, Sophia added fresh blueberries to hers. We brushed a sweet basil glaze on both and enjoyed them with the rest of the scholars after a Southern-inspired dinner of ham, soup beans, greens, and slaw.

Peach Pie with a Sweet Basil Glaze
Adapted from The New York Times Heritage Cookbook

Ingredients
For the pie:
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust
6 c. fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. fresh ginger, zested
1 tsp. salt
2 Tblsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Turbinado sugar, for dusting

For the glaze:
1 c. water
1 c. sugar
Handful fresh basil leaves

Directions
For the pie:
1. Prepare the Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Chill dough at least 1 hour. Once chilled, roll out 1/2 of pie crust and fit into a 9-inch greased and floured pie pan. You can choose to roll out the top-crust now and refrigerate it flat, or roll it out once you've prepared the filling. Either way, you should put both the remaining crust and the pie pan in the fridge while you prepare the filling. Reserve half-egg yolk for the egg wash.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine peaches, lemon juice, flour, brown sugar, ginger, and salt. Pour filling into the bottom crust. Dot the top of the filling with 2 Tblsp. butter

3. To make the lattice, lay 5-8 strips parallel across the pie and fold back every other strip. Weave the same number of strips perpendicular to the first strips, alternating over and under. Trim strips so that they leave a 1-inch overhang. Fold bottom crust over the lattice and tuck the excess under. Seal and flute edges decoratively. Brush lattice with the leftover egg and dust with Turbinado sugar.

4. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, approximately 40-45 minutes. Once done, remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Prepare sweet basil glaze, then brush on crust. Serve slightly warm with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream.

For sweet basil glaze:
1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water, and basil. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and let simmer until syrup becomes thick and coats the back of a spoon. Let steep for 15-20 minutes, then brush on pie crust.

Related Recipes:

Peach-Pecan Pie

Peach-Bourbon-Ginger Hand Pies

Surry County Peach Sonker with Dip

In old-time music, Surry County, North Carolina is well-known for its distinctive regional variation of playing, often referred to as Round Peak style. With its roots in Scots-Irish, English, and African American traditions of fiddle and banjo music, it's known for its driving rhythm, and intense syncopated melody. I visited Surry County a few months ago, for the Mt. Airy Bluegreass and Old-Time Fiddlers' Convention, or as the festival is referred to among old-time musicians, simply "Mt. Airy". Though I heard many styles of bluegrass and old-time, and even some Cajun music there, the Round Peak style is the most celebrated and what reigns supreme at the festival.

Little did I know when I was there, though, that along with Andy Griffith and Round Peak playing, Surry County also boasts a distinctive regional dessert, called a sonker. A sonker is essentially a cross between a cobbler and a pie, as it uses pie pastry, but is served in the biggest rectangular pan that can fit in the oven--perfect for serving large crowds at church suppers and community events common in the region. Sonkers also serve as  a means for showcasing some of the superb fresh local produce grown in Surry County. A peach filling is classic, but they can also be made with cherries or blueberries or other stone fruits, and in the winter, sweet potato sonkers are quite popular.

A sonker is also traditionally served with a sauce called "dip", a warmed-milk and sugar concoction ladled over individual slices. As Nancie McDermott mentions in Southern Pies, a fancier dip can also include an egg, likening it to the "classic Southern dessert sauce, boiled custard." The whole ensemble is even celebrated at the Surry County Sonker festival, held on the first Saturday of October. 

For my first sonker, I went with a classic peach, and threw in a few apricot slices I had leftover from the gooseberry-apricot pie. Here's the recipe I used, adapted only slightly from Southern dessert maven Nancie McDermott.

Surry County Peach Sonker with Dip
Adapted from Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies

Ingredients
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust, multiplied by two

For filling:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
9 c. fresh peaches, peeled and cut into slices
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, melted

For dip:
1/2 c. sugar
3 Tblsp. cornstarch
3 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions
For crust & filling:
1. Prepare Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Once dough has chilled, roll out half of it to line a 9x13-inch greased and floured baking pan. Make sure to tuck the dough into the corners. Leave a 1-inch overhang around the sides of the pan and trim off any excess dough.

2. Roll out remaining dough and cut into long strips, approximately 1-inch wide. Refrigerate pastry-lines pan and cut strips while you prepare the filling. If you have extra dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze for your next sonker!

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt, using a fork or whisk to combine. Add the sliced and peeled peaches and gently toss them with the dry mixture until they are evenly coated. Pour the filling into the pastry-lined pan and spread evenly. Pour the melted butter and 1/2 c. water evenly over the peach filling.

4. Remove pastry strips from the fridge and weave a criss-cross or lattice pattern across the top of the filling. Press the end of each strip against the side of the pastry crust, then fold the bottom overhang of pastry over the strips. Seal and crimp the edges using a fork.

5. Place the sonker in the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for about 45-55 minutes more, or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling.

For dip:
1. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch, mixing well with a fork or whisk. Add milk and vanilla and stir to dissolve the dry mixture into the milk. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir constantly as it comes to a boil. As soon as it boils, reduce the heat and let the dip simmer until it thickens and becomes smooth, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to let cool.

2. Serve sonker warm, covering each slice with a generous ladle-full of dip.

With its FULL STICK of butter added to the filling and warmed milk dip reminiscent of childhood late night snacks, this is an incredibly sumptuous and comforting dessert that would be excellent anywhere from a Surry County fiddlers' convention to a Washington, D.C. kitchen. My housemate Bobbie said it's one of her most favorite things she's ever eaten, which is saying a lot in our house full of baked goods, and is evidenced by her plate-licking photo below. Personally, I'm going to pioneer the movement to combine the Surry County Sonker Festival and the Mt. Airy Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddlers' Convention into one event, or at least bring a sonker or two to next year's fiddle festival.

Peach-Pecan Pie

Peaches in the summertime, apples in the fall/If I can't have the one I love, I won't have none at all. That's one of my favorite, if not my favorite old-time lyric. My dad used to sing it to me before bed, in a modified version of Shady Grove (modified, because I cried when he said "I'm bound to go away," which he changed to "love you more each day!"). That memory aside, I like that phrase for its simplicity, its assertion of seasonal eating in a time when that was not a question; you ate fresh apples in the fall (and probably storage apples through the winter) and peaches all summer. Love could be fleeting and unreliable, but autumn apples and summer peaches were known entities.

This peach-pecan pie from Nancie McDermott via her friend Sandra Gutierrez seems to be the type of dessert that's just the thing for the tail end of peach season, as apples are starting to gain ground on farmers' market tables and the line of peach cartons starts to recede. I say this because of my association with pecans as a fall pie, and in reality, this pie can work on any summer day (let's be honest here--I made it in June!). But maybe it's the end of summer and you're sunburned and hot and just a bit tired of peaches, and you need a new take-- a tangy custard, a pecan crumble. Either way, this suits me as a perfect transition pie, with the pecan topping hinting at those summer nights when it starts to get a little cooler and you need to slip on an extra layer, and your mind starts drifting towards bonfires, and doughnuts, and well, apples...



Peach-Pecan Pie
Adapted from Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies

Ingredients
For crust:
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust, halved

For filling:
3 c. peeled & sliced fresh peaches (about 6 medium-sized peaches)
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. sour cream
3 egg yolks
2 Tblsp. all-purpose flour

For pecan-crumb top:
1/2 c. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. (2 oz.) chopped pecans

Directions
For crust:

1. Prepare half of the Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Chill dough at least 1 hour. Once chilled, remove from before rolling out and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Crimp edges decoratively.

For filling:
1. Scatter peeled and sliced peaches over the bottom of the pie crust.

2. Using a whisk, combine sugar, sour cream, egg yolks, and flour in a medium bowl until everything is well-combined. Pour this thick and creamy sauce over the peaches.

3. Place the pie in the oven and bake until the custard is set and the crust is golden-brown, approximately 30 minutes. 

For topping:
1. Combine butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles peas and cornmeal. Stir in the chopped pecans and set aside.

2. Remove pie from the oven and scatter the pecan topping over the pie. Return pie to the oven and bake until the crumb top is golden brown, about 10-15 minutes more. 

3. Place pie on a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature, approximately 45 minutes. Can be served warm or cold. Nancie and Sandra recommend cinnamon whipped cream, but vanilla (or cinnamon!) ice cream would also be delicious.

O Pi(e)-O-Neers!

The next morning Angélique, Amédée's wife, was in the kitchen baking pies, assisted by Old Miss Chevalier. Between the mixing-board and the stove stood the old cradle that had been Amédée's an in it was his black-eyed son. As Angélique, flushed and excited, with flour on her hands, stopped to smile at the baby, Emil Bergson road up to the kitchen door on his mare and dismounted.

-Willa Cather, O Pioneers!

Our friend, the lovely and talented Ms. Becky Wright of Philadelphia, PA held a "Pie and Pioneers" (note the Conestoga wagon in the above photograph) event at her apartment a few weeks ago. She made 20 flavors, all by hand from scratch. Here are a few of the highlights...

apple (with a heart)

banana cream (whole wheat crust)

black bottom chocolate cream

butterscotch cream (with birds)

california prune

peach (with a braid!)

plum (it had to be cooked in a brown paper bag!)

raspberry glacé

strawberry

The other flavors were pecan, chocolate pecan, peaches 'n' cream, caramel raisin walnut, ginger-pear, sour cream apple, pumpkin, lemon meringue, coconut cream, dark cherry, and cranberry-blueberry. Way to go Philly Pie and Pi(e)-o-neers!

Speaking of pi(e)...what you got cookin' for pi(e) day 3.14?!

Remembering Summer, Through Pies

It's early September, and up in Vermont I know friends are feeling the start of fall. I mistook the cooler weather this week here in North Carolina as the end of summer, but here we are again today with a high of 91 degrees, and highs in the 80s forecasted for the rest of the week. Perhaps it's premature to announce the end of the season, but I must say, I'm anxious for fall with its saturday visits to orchards for doughnuts, cider and apple-picking, leaves-a-changing, lots of Brit psych folk on the stereo, and sweater weather. In any (dessert) case, here are a few pies I made earlier this summer:

Twin open-top blueberry pies with berries picked by Nathalie and me, for ROCKBY 2009, Marina's music festival birthday party at Rokeby.

Another blueberry (bloobz) pie, I made for a burrito cookout during an August Baltimore visit. It was maybe the best blueberry filling I've ever made because it set up so well. I used this recipe, but added a half cup of flour or so to the filling. The crust, however, was a struggle, because of the heat!
And finally, peach-basil pie I made for a Folklore grad student cookout here in North Carolina. The basil came from Josh's herb garden in our backyard. The filling recipe I used was:

Peach-Basil Pie
3 lbs. peaches (maybe more)
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 Tblsp. corn starch
1/8 c. julienned fresh basil/lemon basil (I used a mixture)

 In the future, I would probably make a basil simple syrup (like in this pie) instead of just putting in the julienned basil leaves. I thought having a little leaf amongst the peaches was mildly unpleasant, but everyone else said they thought it was peach skin (it was dark). Please enjoy these last days of summer pie possibilities!

(Preserved) Peach Pie

Last night my friend Layne and I made a peach (with perhaps some nectarine mixed in) pie with fruit he froze last summer. We drained about 2 quarts of peaches (they were frozen in their own juice) and added ginger and cinnamon--it really didn't need any sweetener because the fruit was so sweet already! We put the peaches between the nothing-in-the-house standard crust recipe, making an extra-thick edge, and baked for about 15 minutes at 425, then reduced to 375 and baked for about 30-35 minutes more.
All the deliciousness of summer in early spring!

Summer Memories of Peach Pie

Texas girl with a peach pie

Awhile back (during the height of peach season) I made a peach pie for Stacy and Chris' going away party at Shelburne Farms. To make the crust, I cut out little hearts with a former-home items cookie cutter, and arranged them in concentric circles around the top. I like the effect!

September Wedding Pie, or, "Peaches in the Summertime, Apples in the Fall"

On Saturday our dear friends Mandy and Greg had their marriage celebration at the Intervale. It was a beautiful, magical ceremony with smudging and droning and readings and singing and crying and laughing and bell ringing and despacho offering. After the ceremony, we all gathered in the barn for the D's: delicious dinner, various desserts made by Mandy's gal pals, dancing...and the Davises.

The dessert table!

For the occasion, I made a peach pie and an apple pie, in celebration of Mandy and Greg and also of the narrow window of overlap between peach season and apple season.

the apple pie, crust decorated with 2 birds...one in positive space, the other in negative space.

See archives from October 2006 for my apple pie recipe.

the peach pie, crust decorated with lots of overlapping tiny hearts

My recipe for Peach Pie filling
adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook: 

3 lbs. peaches, peeled, pitted, and finely sliced
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
5 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of ground mace

Toss peaches with lemon juice in large bowl. Stir together flour, sugar, salt, and mace in small bowl and add to peaches. toss until combined, and pour into crust.

Greg's dad Rowland cuts the pie!

Dale is about to enter the pie enjoyment zone!

And I know this is a pie blog, but I would be remiss if I did not mention Meghan's PERFECT white wedding cake with homemade candied edible flowers. And while I'm at it, I'll mention the other delicious desserts (though I was too full to try them): cupcakes by Angela, cheesecake by Joe and Lauren, and vegan cupcakes by Babycakes via Stacy!