Perfect Peach Pie
Updated March 11, 2025
Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
- Total Time
- 2 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
FOR THE PIE DOUGH
2 ½ cups or 300 grams all-purpose flour
12 tablespoons or 169 grams unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Yolk of 1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
¼ cup water, from ¾ cup ice water
White of 1 egg, beaten
Pinch granulated sugar
FOR THE FILLING
6 or 7 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced, approximately 5 cups
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup or 30 grams all-purpose flour
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 to 8 servings)
38 grams carbs; 86 milligrams cholesterol; 316 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 19 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 254 milligrams sodium; 3 grams protein; 36 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the pie dough. Using your fingertips or the pulse function of a food processor, blend together the flour, butter and salt until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. There should be pebbles of butter throughout the mixture.
- Step 2
Add egg yolk and vinegar to ¼ cup ice water, and stir to combine. Drizzle 4 tablespoons of this mixture over the dough, and gently stir or pulse to combine. Gather a golf-ball-size bit of dough, and squeeze to combine. If it does not hold together, add a little more of the liquid, and stir or pulse, then check again. Repeat as necessary.
- Step 3
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and gather together into a rough ball. Divide the ball in half with a knife or a pastry scraper, then divide each portion in half again, and again, to create 8 portions. Using the heel of your hand, flatten each portion of dough once or twice to expand the pebbles of butter, then gather the dough together again in one ball. Divide this ball in half.
- Step 4
Flatten each ball into a 5- or 6-inch disc, one slightly larger than the other. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes.
- Step 5
Preheat oven to 425. Make the pie filling: Combine sliced peaches, lemon juice, sugar and flour in a large bowl, and gently mix to combine. Set aside.
- Step 6
Take the larger of the pastry discs out of the refrigerator, roll it out on a lightly floured surface and place in a 9-inch pie plate. Add the peaches. Sprinkle them with the ground nutmeg.
- Step 7
Roll out second disc of pastry. Place on top of filling. Wet edges of the bottom pastry disc with some cold water. Trim pastry, pinch bottom and top edges together and cut a few slits to allow steam to escape from the pie. Brush the egg white on the top, particularly around the edges, and sprinkle with a pinch of granulated sugar.
- Step 8
Bake the pie for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375. Cook until peaches bubble and pastry is golden, approximately 45 minutes to an hour.
Private Notes
Comments
This pie was delicious. The pastry was flakey and flavourful. I was concerned about the comments regarding the filling being runny, so I tossed the peaches in the sugar, let them stand for 30 minutes and then drained the juice into a sauce pan boiling for 10 minutes to make a syrup. I then added back to the peaches and proceeded as the recipe was written, with the addition of 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. The pie filling was the perfect consistency. This will be my go to peach pie recipe.
A great kitchen tool for peeling peaches (or any soft fruit, including tomatoes) is the Zyliss soft fruit peeler. Takes virtually no pulp from the fruit. No messing with submerging fruit in boiling water and then pulling off the skin.
The filling will have more body (and color) if you don't peel peaches. The difference among thickeners is whether you get a clear or cloudy liquid (tapioca clear, flour or cornstarch cloudy, arrowroot I don't know). Alton Brown mashes half of the peaches with a thickener and lets that develop before mixing with sliced fruit, which I think is genius. I do a lattice top or cut large vent holes to keep liquid to a minimum.
I tried this crust recipe...excellent for wet filling!
This pie was amazing! I used a Trader Joe's crust and, as per others' recommendations, added 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon and almond extract to the filling. I substituted 2 Tbsp of Minute Tapioca for the flour. Lastly, I added a handful of blueberries. which complemented the peaches. Yum!
Made this several times- ( 2/3 cup sugar) -fabulous! It is a summer go-to. Over time have tweaked - substitute tapioca for flour ( 4TBS of Minute) and just tried substituting nutmeg with 1/4 tsp cardamom. SO good - try it.
This was great. I peeled my peaches using the suggested trick of microwaving one peach at a time for a max of one minute to ease the process. I combined the peaches and sugar and let them drain for at least an hour. I cooked down the excess peach juice to syrup and added half of it back to the peaches prior to baking. I followed the recipe to a T for the crust. Now, I have beef with pie crust. It never cooperates. But this one worked well. I kept everything very cold , including the egg yolk and vinegar. Not frozen but cold. I was worried my impelled soppy sugary peach blob of a filling would be total mush in the pie, but it finished beautifully. I par baked the crust with no weights or beans for ten minutes and I’m glad I did. An absolutely perfect summer dessert topped with good vanillas ice cream and topped again with leftover peach syrup mentioned earlier. BRAVA and thanks to other NYT home cooks with so many tips.