
Hey friends! I know you can tell when the restaurant is on overdrive. There is a lack of blog posts. But it’s not that I don’t love you. I just literally have been slammered. We’ve been running around catering weddings, lunches, breakfasts, showers, and we’ve been really busy in the shop too. All this with our baker gone for a month in the San Juan Islands, relaxing and reading books and magazines, casually flipping pages and sipping coffee while we bake her stuff. La di dah. Just kidding Joannie, we still love you. Get your ass back here now!
So it’s summer here in Reno, and with the hotness comes the sweetness. In the form of tomatoes, basil, corn and of course, peaches. Here’s a shot of the local deliciousness we get to feast on. These lovely little orbs of flavor come from Watanabe Farms (just over the hill in Sacramento Valley), delivered directly by farmer Heidi herself. Speaking of Heidi’s produce, she grows a mighty fine peach, both white and yellow, as well as nectarines. I spied some mighty fine white peaches on Heidi’s truck and bought three cases. Some made their way into salads with local greens, feta cheese, toasted almonds, and cilantro jalapeno dressing. Some found themselves surrounded by yogurt and house-made granola. Some jumped into a crisp with crunchy oatmeal brown sugar topping. Still others were eaten in the kitchen by me and my staff, standing over the sink. juices running down our arms. But what I really had in mind was a pie. I love to make pie, and I wish more people would make them too. A pie is a fine thing to behold, and done well can seal a friendship, heal a relationship or simply convey love on a plate.
So. I decided to make a pie for the restaurant. I was going to do the usual, take a cool picture and give you the recipe, but I’d just gotten my new iPhone and decided to have some fun with my staff and VIDEO the pie making! What? Yes!
Well, it was fun, but I did learn that if you get a text or a call while you’re taping the taping stops. Which only makes sense, since it is a phone after all. So I’ll be working on fixing that for the next time. This explains why there are three segments. Anyhow, here’s the recipe. Watch these little videos in order, and let me know how your pie turns out!!
Nancy’s Deep DISH White Peach Pie
8-12 ripe white peaches, washed, split, pits removed and wedged into 8ths (leave peels on!)
1 cup vanilla sugar (I use two or three vanilla beans, split and scraped, submerged in 5 lbs. sugar)
1 lemon, cut in half
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons corn starch or tapioca flour
pinch of kosher salt
Grab a big bowl and go to town on the peaches. Wash them gently, cut in half and take out the pits. Use a paring knife. Then cut each half into eight wedges. Use a big spoon to gently mix with remaining ingredients and squeeze lemon juice over everything. Set aside while you make the dough.
Nancy’s Best Pie Dough
Here’s what you need to know about pie dough. There are those who use shortening, and those who use butter. By now you should now I am the butter kind. So. Just use it. At the restaurant, we make about 20 balls of pie dough at a time. This is the scaled back version.
2 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
2 sticks COLD sweet salted butter, chopped up into little bits
ice water
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or just a mixing bowl if you’re working by hand) add the flour. Add the chopped up COLD butter. Quickly mix on medium low speed so the butter is in little bits. With the motor running on low dribble in a bit of ice water. Keep dribbling until the mixture comes together, but isn’t too dry or too wet. Just watch. It will happen. Stop the motor…..if you are working by hand, dribble the water and work the dough until it comes together. At this point, you can make two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge. If you want to make this for the freezer, wrap in plastic wrap, then store in a freezer bag. Defrost on the counter or in the fridge.
To roll out: flour a board or counter with a little flour, and start rolling with a pin from the middle out. Roll north, south, east, west. Then flip the dough, adding more flour if you need to. Roll again, north, south, east, west, until it’s bigger than a pie plate, about 12 inches across. Spray a glass deep dish pie plate with cooking spray. Lay the crust inside, giving a little room for shrinkage. Roll out the second crust. Fill the first crush with fruit and dot with butter. Lay the top crust over the fruit, sealing and crimping the edges. Score the top and sprinkle with sugar. Bake on a sheet pan lined with parchment or foil for 1 1/2 hours at 375 degrees until the center filling reads 180 on an instant read thermometer and is bubbling. Cool on a rack and eat warm or room temperature. Enjoy!!


































