Today is Pi Day. (Today also is Einstein’s birthday, if you have forgotten.) So, of course, there was no question what type of recipe should be featured on Blue Cayenne. Pie. Make that a delicious peach pie.
If you’ve forgotten your math, Pi is ∏, the sixteenth letter in the Greek alphabet and a symbol used in mathematics to represent the numerical value of the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter–3.14159 to start with but the number is irrational and has an infinite number of digits.
If you don’t know today is Pi Day, you haven’t been paying attention. Today is Pi Day’s 30th anniversary. All sorts of stuff happens on Pi Day. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology releases its admissions decisions on Pi Day at precisely 9.26, for example. NASA is running a “Pi in the Sky” math challenge. Princeton is hosting its annual Pi Day celebration with pie eating (and throwing) contests and an Albert Einstein look-alike contest. Around the world, some Pi fanatics began their celebration of Pi Day 2018 at 1.59 pm. and 26 seconds on March 14. (3.1415926.) Merchants, anxious to cash in on the day, often offer pizzas or real pies at $3.14 discounts. (Whole Foods is advertising a $3.14 discount this year.) Google is running this special Pi Day graphic today.
Pi also has insinuated itself into our cultural references. Pi was the secret code in Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain. The Springfield graveyard sign on the Simpsons beckoned: “Come for the funeral, stay for the ∏.” Givenchy has a cologne called Pi that it markets as highlighting the sexual appeal of intelligent and visionary men. (Personally, I plan to start hanging out by the men’s cologne section at Nordstrom’s. Who couldn’t use a little help in identifying smart men?)
So, bottom line, you need to eat pie today (and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow—Pie is an irrational dessert, after all.)
Here is a recipe for a wonderful peach pie and you don’t have to be a genius to make it. The original recipe ran in the New York Times. Here is the link: Sam Sifton’s Perfect Peach Pie.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 1/2 Cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour
- 12 T. (169 grams) unsalted butter (cold, cut into 1/2 inch cube)
- 1 t. kosher salt
- Yolk of 1 egg (beaten)
- 1 t. cider vinegar
- 1/4 C. water (from 3/4 C. ice water)
- White of 1 egg (beaten)
- Pinch granulated sugar
- 6-7 ripe peaches (sliced--leave on the skins!) (approximately 5 Cups)
- 2 T lemon juice
- 1 C. granulated sugar (or 3/4 if you want your pie to be a bit less sweet)
- 5 T. cornstarch or 1/4 C. all purpose flour (or a combination)
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Prepare the pie dough. Pulse the flour, butter and salt in your food processor until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with small pebbles of butter throughout the mixture. Add egg yolk and vinegar to 1/4 cup ice water. Stir and drizzle 4 T. of this mixture over the dough in your processor. Pulse to combine the liquid into the dough and continue pulsing until the dough forms a ball in your processor bowl. (Add more of the egg yolk/water/vinegar liquid if you necessary to get the dough to form into a ball.)
- Turn dough onto a lightly-floured surface and form into a ball. Divide the ball into 8 portions. Use the heel of your hand to flatten each portion of dough and to expand the pebbles of butter. Gather the dough back together into a ball. Divide dough in half and flatten each half into a 5-6 inch disc. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 60 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
- Make the pie filling. Slice peaches but do not peel them. Mash half of the peaches in a bowl and add the cornstarch. Add the mashed peaches to the remaining sliced peaches and add lemon juice and sugar. Gently mix and set aside for a few minutes.
- Remove the pastry discs from the refrigerator. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out one disc into a circle and place into a 9-inch pie plate. Pour the peach mixture on top of the dough. Sprinkle with freshly-ground nutmeg. Trim the pie crust to fit the pie dish and wet the edges of the dough with a small amount of water.
- Roll out the second disc of pastry into a round. Place the round of pastry onto the top of the pie. Pinch the bottom and the top edges of the pastry dough together. Cut a few slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape from the pie as it cooks. Brush the top of the pie with egg whites. Sprinkle top of the pie with granulated sugar.
- Bake pie for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F. Reduce heat and continue to bake the pie at 375 degrees F. Bake until the pastry on the pie is a pretty golden brown color and the peach liquid is bubbling. This should take between 45 minutes to an hour.
- Remove pie from oven and let it sit on your counter to cool. The peach juices will thicken as the pie cools.
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