August is peach season in Colorado and that means peach pie. This recipe has a gluten-free piecrust and is a wonderful way to enjoy the summer crop. If you’re lucky, you can get them straight from the farm. If you’re really lucky, you have access to Palisade peaches.
Peach trees were first planted in the late 1800s on Colorado’s western slope. The town of Palisade had its first peach festival in 1909 and featured a visit from President Taft. Today, peaches still thrive in the region’s hot summer days and cool nights with irrigation from the Colorado River. The peaches for the pie in this post came from a roadside stand in the mountains.
The Gluten-Free Peach Pie Recipe
The photos for this post show a ‘deep dish’ pie dish, 9½ inches in diameter by 1½ inches deep.
My first step – always – in making this pie is to realize that I haven’t thrown the butter in the freezer. Some people use it straight from the fridge but I think it grates better when it’s colder. And while not essential, I think chilled and grated butter makes a better piecrust. 20 to 30 minutes in the freezer should do the trick. Put your one cup of butter in the freezer while you get the peaches ready and gather your other ingredients. You’ll probably have time to get something else done too. Or you can be totally unproductive while you wait for your butter to chill.
Filling Ingredients:
- 10 – 12 peaches (or enough to adequately fill your pie pan) peeled and sliced
- ⅓ C sugar (more or less to taste)
- 2 T potato starch
- 1 T white rice flour
Place peeled and sliced peaches in a bowl. Mix together sugar, potato starch, and white rice flour in a separate bowl and then pour over peaches and gently mix. Note: I use minimal sugar. You may want to use more for a sweeter pie.
Piecrust Ingredients:
- 1 C butter, chilled
- 1¼ C white rice flour
- ¾ C potato starch
- ½ C tapioca flour
- 1 t xanthan gum
- ½ t salt
- 1 egg
- 1 T vinegar
- 2 – 3 T cold water
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Your butter should be hard enough to grate with a hand grater or food processor and will look like shredded mozzarella when you’re done. If you don’t have a way to grate it, cut it into small pieces.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the grated butter and gently toss with your hands until the butter is coated with the flour mix. Try and separate the butter as you do this. Once you have it coated, rub the butter and flour mixture together with your fingers until you have a coarse and evenly crumbly mixture.
Mix the egg and vinegar together and then use a spoon to combine with the butter and flour mixture. Now, add the water one tablespoon at a time until the dough sticks together.
Put half the dough between layers of plastic wrap and use a rolling pin to roll it out to about ⅛-inch thick. I don’t measure it. I just roll it out until it’s about the right size for my pie dish.
Peel off the top layer of plastic. Put your hand under the pie dough and gently flip it into the dish. Now, fill the dish with your peaches.
Repeat the process for your top piecrust by rolling out the other half of the dough between plastic. When you put it on top, trim off any scraps and use them to build up any places where your edges are thin. You can use a fork to press the sides.
Cover the crust edges with foil to avoid over-browning and place a pan under the pie dish to catch any drips. Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for 25 minutes with the foil. Remove foil and bake for another 25 minutes or until the pie crust begins to turn golden.
We think Palisade peaches are a pretty special part of summer. But no matter where your peaches come from, your gluten-free peach pie will be a wonderful summer treat.
Enjoy!
