It’s been almost a year since I last posted.

It’s been almost a year since I last posted?!

It’s been a year of making: a year of baking, of cooking, of knitting, and even of some sewing.  Halloween costumes were made.  Holiday gifts were made.  And some other stuff, too.

And now we’re back in summer.  It’s hot out, but with the heat comes fresh fruit. And with fresh fruit comes… pie.

This is the first peach pie of the 2017 peach season.  The crust is gluten-free shortcrust; the peaches just have sugar and a wee little bit of lemon juice on them to preserve their color.  The topping is a gluten-free sweet crumb topping that’s long been my favorite for pies and crisps.

Crust recipe: For the crust, I whizzed 2 cups of Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 Baking Flour with a stick (8 Tbsp) of butter in the food processor until the mixture resembled breadcrumbs.  I then slowly added (while the processor was still on) 6 Tbsp. of cold water.  Unlike a wheat-based crust, the mix never did form a ball.  (No gluten, dontchaknow.)  I dumped it into a bowl, covered it, and stuck it in the fridge for 30 minutes.  When I took it out, I rolled it between two pieces of parchment paper (GF doughs stick terribly 😦 ) until it was a smidge thicker than you’d usually want a pie crust, and then I gently transferred it to my pie plate.  It’s ugly, cracked, and will never win any appearance awards, but it’s also light and tender, when gluten-free baked goods are generally neither.

Crumb topping recipe: For the crumb topping, I combined 3/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, 3/4 cup light brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 5 Tbsp. butter in a bowl.  Unlike with the crust, for this, I used a pastry cutter to keep the crumbs larger.  The goal with this is to have some larger lumps and some smaller, so a food processor is not ideal.  I just spread this gently over the peaches and baked the whole shebang for 15 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit and then 45 more minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.