Fresh Peach Pie - Oh my, oh my!

Do you remember my friend Cat (with a "c") who I shared tea with at the Grand Hotel? Well, Cat's mother, Cyndie, is quite a delight. She is a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher (think present-day Home Economics) at Fairhope Middle School, a unicyclist and a wonderful cook. 

After receiving numerous phone calls from Cat and her son Matt asking how to make this-or-that recipe, Cyndie compiled all of her family's favorite recipes into From LA to LA: Favorite Recipes Collected from Louisiana to Lower Alabama.

This weekend, I gathered up some courage (and help from my sweet mother) and took on Cyndie's homemade peach pie recipe.

According to Miss Cyndie's recipe, you'll need:

 

4 cups of fresh peaches (about three large peaches), peeled and sliced 

1 cup of sugar

2 TBSP of flour

1 TBSP fresh squeezed lemon juice

 1/4 tsp. almond flavoring

 1/8 tsp salt 

2 TBSP butter

You'll also need two deep dish pie crusts (I used Pillsbury's Pie Crust which comes two crusts to a box) and the egg wash (see below).

Combine the peaches with the sugar, flour, lemon juice, almond flavoring and salt.

Pour ingredients into an unbaked pie crust and dot with butter.

Here comes the fun part where I got to ad lib a bit. Lay out the leftover crust and cut into 1-inch strips.

Now, lay half of the strips in one direction, just like above.

Then, fold back alternate strips of the dough and place another strip perpendicular to the initial row. Pay attention, this is when things get a little tricky! Unfold the strips and fold back the alternate ones that have not yet been folded. Lay another perpendicular strip and continue with the same process until the whole pie is complete.

If you're still struggling with your lattice work, don't be ashamed! Here's a live tutorial from an actual Pillsbury rep! Her technique is slightly different from mine but creates the same effect. I also like that she mentions wrapping the edges with aluminum foil so that the crust doesn't burn; I'll try that next time:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv4809RKhzg

Create an egg wash by whisking one yolk with one tablespoon of water. Then "paint" the yolk all over the pie.

Here's a pre-oven snapshot of our peach pie masterpiece. Bake at 400 degrees for up to 1 hour. I recommend checking at the 55-minute mark. Let cool and...

Serve a la mode!

I'd like to thank my sweet mother Karen for being my photographer on this project. She deserves two slices of pie for putting up with me!