This peach pie recipe is the epitome of summer. It’s made with six fresh peaches, a little sugar, and a homemade crust. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a sweet summer treat!
When it comes to fresh fruit pies, simple is best. This recipe for Fresh Peach Pie puts the peaches front and center. The filling is surrounded by an all-butter homemade pie crust. The lattice on top makes for a beautiful presentation. And it’s not difficult—just follow the steps below!
What is in peach pie filling?
Peach pie filling is a simple mixture of fresh peaches, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.
The sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt all enhance the flavor of the peaches. The cornstarch combines with the juice from the peaches so the pie filling isn’t runny.
When is peach season?
In the South, peach season begins in May and runs through late September. In the Midwest, peach season runs from early July through late September. I recommend using in-season peaches for peach pie. It will yield the sweetest result.
How to make a lattice crust
In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and sugar with the butter until there are lumps of butter that are slightly larger than a pea.
Then, add water until a loose dough is formed. It should still be relatively crumbly, but hold together when you pinch it with your fingers.
Next, divide the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap.
Use the plastic wrap to gently press the dough together and shape into a disk. Repeat with the other piece of plastic wrap. Refrigerate for one hour before you proceed with the filling.
How to make peach pie filling
Cut a shallow “x” into the bottom of each peach using a sharp knife.
Place the peaches into boiling water for 30 seconds. Carefully remove the peaches from the boiling water and place in a bowl of ice water. Let the peaches cool there for 2–3 minutes.
Remove the peaches and place on cutting board. The peels should start to slide off. Use your fingers and/or a knife to remove the peels.
Slice the peaches and combine with the lemon juice, cornstarch, sugar, vanilla, and salt.
Putting together the pie
Roll out each crust into a 12-inch circle. Place one of the circles in a pie pan and trim to fit the edges.
Pour in the filling. Use a ruler to cut the other rolled out crust into ½ inch strips. Place the strips on top of the filling, forming a lattice pattern.
Optional: how to roast sugar
I’ve made this pie many times, sometimes with regular granulated sugar and sometimes with roasted granulated sugar.
I stumbled across the idea for Roasted Sugar from Food52. It came from a cookbook called BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts
by Stella Parks. In it, she explains that she once worked in a cold restaurant kitchen. It was so cold that the cake batters wouldn’t cream properly, so she warmed the sugar in a low oven to offset the chill.
One day, she placed the sugar in the oven and promptly forgot about it. As soon as the scent of caramel drifted to her, and she ran toward the oven expecting to find a bubbling mess of scorched sugar. Instead, she found the sugar lightly brown but still in its granular form.
She whipped the light brown sugar into a meringue and was smitten with the result: a light and fluffy dessert with notes of caramel and a gorgeous ivory hue.
When I read her story, I was intrigued. Here was an ingredient that acts exactly like white granulated sugar, but had a toasty, caramel-like flavor. It turns out that it can be used 1:1 for white sugar in really any recipe you choose. It may get lost in heavy, flavorful desserts like brownies, but in something delicate like a peach pie? You can taste it!
Roasting the sugar is an optional step, but if you choose to do it, here’s how:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Place 4 cups of sugar in a 8×8 inch glass dish.
2. Roast for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes, or until the sugar is light brown and smells toasted.
3. Place the dish on a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 1 hour, or until all of the sugar is at room temperature.
Note: The sugar can be stored for up to one year in an airtight container.
How to serve peach pie
When it’s time to serve the pie, get out your best dishes! I used my wedding china here, which is this Wedgwood Vera Lace Five-Piece Place Setting
by Vera Wang.
Ice cream or whipped cream are delicious on top. Particularly if the pie is still a little warm from the oven!
More peach recipes for summer:
Burrata Appetizers with Peaches & Pistachios
Grilled Peaches with Honey Whipped Cream
Grilled Pork Chops with Fresh Peach Salsa
Peach Apricot Bellini
If you make this recipe, please leave me a rating and comment below, or tag me on Instagram or Pinterest. I love hearing from you!
Peach Pie with Roasted Sugar
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2½ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- ⅓ –½ cup ice water
- 1 egg for brushing the top before baking
Peach pie filling:
- 2½ lbs ripe peaches (about 6 large peaches)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
Crust:
- Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Cut the butter into ½ inch pieces. Add the butter to the bowl of the food processor. Pulse 12–15 times, or until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is a little larger than a pea. Add ⅓ cup water. Pulse until the mixture forms a loose dough. It may be a little crumbly—this is ok. If it’s too crumbly to form a dough, add additional ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Place two 12x16 inch pieces of plastic wrap on a flat surface. Divide the dough between the two pieces of plastic wrap. Use your hands to gently form the dough into a flat disk. Tightly wrap the remaining plastic wrap around the disk. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days.
- Remove one disk of dough and place on a floured surface. Using a rolling pin dusted with flour, roll the dough into a 12 inch circle. I find that rotating the dough 45° after every roll of the rolling pin ensures a circular shaped crust (or thereabouts—it doesn’t have to be perfect).
- Place the dough in a 9-inch pie plate. Trim the additional crust on the edges, leaving ½ inch of dough as an overhang. Place the pie plate in the refrigerator while you make the filling.
Filling
- Bring a medium saucepan full of water to a boil. Score the bottom of each peach with an “x” with a paring knife, about 1x1 inches.
- Prepare a bowl full of ice water. Gently lower the peaches into the boiling water. Allow to cook for 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, remove the peaches from the boiling water and place into the bowl of ice water. Allow to cool.
- When the peaches are cool, use a paring knife or your fingers to gently peel the skin away from each peach. Discard the skins. Cut each peach in half and cut into ¼ inch slices.
- In a large bowl, combine the peaches with the cornstarch, sugar or roasted sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and a small pinch of salt. Toss gently to combine.
- Remove the second dough disk from the refrigerator. Using a rolling pin dusted with flour, roll the dough into a 12 inch circle. Cut the dough into ½ inch thick strips.
- Remove the pie plate from the refrigerator. Pour the peach mixture into the dish. Place 6–8 dough strips on vertically on top, depending on how tight you’d like the lattice crust. Peel back every other strip and begin to build a lattice crust, alternating over and then under for each strip that you place horizontally on the pie. You may not use all of the strips.
- Trim the strips to the same length as the ½ inch overhang of the bottom crust. Use your fingers to gently press the strips against the bottom crust. Fold the edges toward the center and push to seal with your fingers. Place the pie in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Remove the pie from the refrigerator and gently brush to top of the dough with the egg wash. Place in the middle of the oven. Place a baking sheet below the pie in case it overflows. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue baking for 30–40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. If the top starts to brown too quickly, place a sheet of aluminum foil loosely on top.
- Let cool for at least an hour so that the filling sets. Slice and serve with vanilla bean ice cream.
Kyle Stamper says
This looks Delicious and such a great use for roasted sugar, which I’ve just recently discovered from Stella Parks, too! Given how delicious and versatile roasted sugar is, I was amazed to discover no one sells it! I love it so much that I decided to just start roasting sugar and selling it myself. So if anyone wants to save themselves a few hours of careful watching and stirring, I set up a simple online store: Caramel Crystals. I slow-roast the sugar by hand following Stella’s recipe, and it’s completely organic!
Kate Shungu says
Very cool! Best wishes on Caramel Crystals!