Who doesn’t love pie, right? Strawberries and peaches is probably one of my favorite fruit combinations. When you wrap these juicy fruits in buttery sweet pastry you get this amazing pie, that no one could resist. Although strawberry season is long gone, there is no need to wait for next year to bake a pie. You can make this pie right away, using frozen strawberries. And if you are like me and stock up your freezer on delicious seasonal fruits, you will be able to make pie all year long, whenever you feel like it.
I always use my classic sweet pastry recipe when preparing pie, but in case you don’t feel like making the pie pastry yourself, just use a package of commercial pie pastry.
Don’t give this recipe a lot of thought, it’s amazing and I am sure you will love it!
Ingredients for the sweet pastry dough (makes 1x26cm round pie, top and bottom):
280 grams (10 oz) flour
60 grams (2 oz) powder sugar
1/3 tea spoon salt
130 grams (4,5 oz) butter, at room temperature
2 medium egg yolks
4 table spoons (20 ml.) cold water or milk
Ingredients for the filling:
400 grams (14 oz) fresh strawberries, washed & halved
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 peaches, chopped
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1 egg for brushing the top of the pie
To make the dough:
Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the soften butter (chopped into small pieces) and start mixing with your fingers (or pulse briefly in a food processor) until coarse crumbs form (butter pieces should be about the size of a pea). Add the egg yolk and quickly knead until the dough comes together. If dough is too dry and doesn’t come together add one or two table spoons of water or milk, one by one, until dough is wet enough to form a ball, but not too sticky. Do NOT overwork the dough, just pulse a few times and then shape it using your hands. Shape dough into a ball, divide it into two parts and shape both parts into disks – 1/3rd (to use to cover the pie) and 2/3rd (to use for the bottom of the pie) and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
In the meantime prepare the filling:
*In case you don’t have fresh strawberries, use frozen, straight from the freezer, no need to thaw them.
In a small casserole combine strawberries, sugar and vanilla extract. Heat over high heat and cook for a couple of minutes or until sugar dissolves and strawberries release their juices. Be gentle and try to keep strawberries in shape.The point here is to get rid of the extra juices and not to turn strawberries into puree. So, cook them just for a minute-two (or more if using frozen strawberries) then remove from the heat and strain. Set strawberries aside to cool to room temperature (or in the fridge for faster cooling). Save juices in case you want to make a strawberry sauce for serving the pie (read notes below).
Place peaches sugar and corn starch in a large bowl. Str to combine, then pour strawberries in. Stir again.
To assemble the pie:
Preheat your oven to 180C (350F).
Remove 2/3rd part dough from the fridge. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Place the dough on a floured wooden board or your kitchen counter and roll into circle, large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the pie dish. Gently transfer the rolled dough into the baking dish and press to fit in. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
Remove the other part of dough from the fridge, let it rest 10 minutes, then roll. Cut into strips to make a lattice or make other shapes and decorations of your choice.
Remove baking dish from the fridge and fill with the peach and strawberry mixture. Arrange dough strips on top, forming a lattice then seal the edges.
Brush pie with a lightly beaten egg, sprinkle with sugar (optional) and put in the oven. Bake for about 60 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely at room temperature before you cut it.
**If you want to use the strawberry juices to make a sauce, just combine juices with a tablespoon cornstarch (add sugar if necessary) and cook over medium heat until it thickens, stirring constantly.
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