Peach Hand Pies

Peach Hand Pie

Peach Hand Pies

I really wish I had something interesting enough to write here, but honestly, this is just another great recipe that I want to be able to keep track of, so here it goes on the blog.

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

• 225 g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal measurement; for Morton's Kosher use rounded half teaspoon)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 90 g butter, frozen 
• 100 g Crisco shortening, preferably cold
• 120 g ice water

Peach Filling:

• 100 g white sugar
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 medium/large peaches, cut into 1 cm cubes or smaller

Topping:

• 1 egg for egg wash
• 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Crust: 

• In a medium sized bowl place the flour, sugar, and kosher salt. Stir with a whisk to combine.
• Take the frozen stick of butter and roll it in the flour mixture, then grate it directly into the flour mixture. Toss lightly to coat the grated butter with the flour.
• Cut the Crisco into thin slices, or chunks about 1-2 teaspoons in size. Toss with the flour and butter and pinch the larger pieces so they are approximately 1/2 to 1 teaspoon size chunks. 
• Pour the ice water into the mixture and use a fork to stir and toss the mixture. Once all water has been added, use a bowl scraper or large silicone spatula to fold dough and incorporate all of the ingredients. 
• Once it's mostly combined, use your hands to kneed lightly to create a cohesive ball of dough.
• Place dough onto a lightly floured surface. 
• Press and form it into a sort of square and then roll it into a rectangle that's about 3/8 inch thick. 
• Fold each short side up the the middle and then fold in half so you have a four-layer rectangle. 
• Roll the rectangle out again to 3/8 inch thickness and fold again the same way.
• Wrap the folded dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

• Remove the dough out of the fridge and cut it almost oil half -- you want one of the pieces to be slightly larger than the other (You need to top pieces to be larger than the bottom or accommodate the peaches).
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the smaller piece of dough into a rectangle. Using a ruler and a pizza cutter, trim off as little as possible to even out the edges. Mine was 22 cm by 30 cm after I trimmed off the edges. It doesn't have to be exact, but you want to end up with 6 decent sized hand pies. Cut that rectangle into 6 equal rectangular/square pieces. Place on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and place in the fridge.

• Roll out the other piece of dough in the same way, but it will be larger. Trim to even out the edges. Mine was about 25 cm by 33 cm after trimming. Then cut into 6 equal rectangles/squares. Cut 4-6 vent holes into these top pieces. 

Filling:

• Prepare the peaches at this point. Don't do it before because you'll loose too much juice if you let the peaches sit too long. 
• Stir together the sugar, corn starch, and kosher salt.
• Place peaches and lemon juice in a medium bowl and stir. Then add the sugar mixture and stir to incorporate. 

Assemble and Bake:

• Build one pie at a time. Spoon about 1/4 cup or so of peaches onto the center of one of the bottom rectangles/squares. Just make sure you leave a 3/8-inch border free of peaches and juice. Use a pastry brush to brush some egg wash around the edge. 
• Place one of the top pieces over the peaches, stretching a bit if needed to make the edges of the top match the bottom piece. Use a floured fork to crimp all of the edges. 
• Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. 

• Brush the tops of all pies with the egg wash and then sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until pies are golden brown.
• Place pan on a cooling rack and allow pies to cool at least 10 minutes before enjoying.

Makes 6 hand pies