Peach-Blueberry Crumb Pie
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The hardest part about making a fruit pie isn’t the crust (especially not with a recipe as reliable as this one). The hardest part about making a fruit pie is waiting for it to properly cool before you can slice it open. It takes hours. Yes, plural. One hour? That’s a rookie mistake. Four is better, with a six-to-eight-hour wait being downright pro chef behavior. Fruit pies are often thickened with starch (cornstarch, in this case) and starches need a long resting period to cool down and set up (the technical term is retrogradation). Without a long rest, a fruit pie will be nearly impossible to slice, the warm filling pouring out of it like an inflatable pool that’s sprung a leak. So let it sit for longer than you can bear. If you’d like to receive a gold star, chill the pie in the fridge for a few hours before cutting and serving. It’ll be especially tidy.
Two more valuable lessons in pie making: The best peaches for a pie are the worst for eating out of hand. You want peaches that are slightly underripe as they have a better balance of acid and pectin and will hold up well to the long bake. Very ripe peaches will simply turn to mush. If your peaches are crunchy like apples, congratulations! You can make excellent peach pie. The sugar, lemon, and spices, though dealt with a light hand, immensely help in transforming even mediocre fruit into a fragrant jammy filling. You can also use an equal amount of unthawed frozen peaches in place of fresh. Cook them as you would for fresh, knowing that it may take a few minutes longer for the liquid to release.
The secret to fruit pie with a crisp, not soggy, bottom is to precook the fruit on the stove first. Precooking releases the moisture from the fruit, which is then bound into a thick well-mannered gel thanks to a modest (for a fruit pie) amount of cornstarch. Pies made by simply dumping raw fruit into the pie shell often suffer from soft crusts and an overload of starch or thickener to compensate for the liquid released as the pie bakes.
Recipe information
Total Time
2½ hours (plus chilling and cooling)
Yield
10-12 servings
Ingredients
Dough
Filling
Streusel and Assembly
Preparation
Dough
Step 1
Whisk 1⅔ cups (208 g) all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and ¼ tsp. baking powder in a large bowl to combine. Add 2 oz. (56 g) chilled cream cheese, cut into 1" pieces, and rub into dry ingredients with your fingers until incorporated (mixture will look very shaggy). Add 10 Tbsp. (140 g) chilled unsalted butter, sliced ½" thick, and toss to coat in flour, then smash into smaller, flatter pieces (about chickpea-size).
Step 2
Make a well in the center and pour in ¼ cup (60 g) ice water. Toss mixture with a fork or your hands to distribute, then knead in bowl a couple times to bring dough together (some dry bits may remain).
Step 3
Turn out dough onto a surface lightly dusted with rice flour or all-purpose flour; dust top of dough with flour. Roll out to a ½"-thick rectangle. Fold dough in half, rotate 90°, and fold in half again. Roll out again to a ½"-thick rectangle and repeat folding process, dusting with more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Pat into a ½"-thick disk and wrap tightly in plastic. Chill at least 2 hours and, preferably, up to 12 hours.
Do Ahead: Dough can be made 1 month ahead. Double wrap disk in plastic and freeze instead of chilling. Thaw overnight in refrigerator before using.
Filling
Step 4
Combine zest and juice of 1 large lemon, 2¼ lb. barely ripe peaches (about 7 large), each cut into 8 wedges, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1 tsp. ground cardamom, and ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg in large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally with a heatproof rubber spatula, until sugar is dissolved and peaches have softened slightly but still retain their shape and released a generous amount of liquid, 15–18 minutes. Using spatula, smash about half of the peaches into small pieces (about almond-size).
Step 5
Stir ¼ cup cornstarch and 3 Tbsp. cool water in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour into peach mixture and cook, gently stirring often, until filling bubbles and thickens significantly, about 3 minutes. Transfer filling to a large bowl and stir in 8 oz. fresh blueberries; let cool. Cover with a lid or a large plate and chill until cold, at least 2 hours.
Do Ahead: Filling can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.
Streusel and Assembly
Step 6
Stir ½ cup (62 g) all-purpose flour, ¼ cup (packed; 50 g) dark brown sugar, 1 tsp. ground cardamom, ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and ⅛ tsp. baking powder in a small bowl to combine. Add 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces, and rub butter into dry ingredients with your fingers until pea-size lumps form. Cover streusel and chill until ready to use.
Step 7
Remove dough from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature 5 minutes.
Step 8
Unwrap and roll out dough on a surface lightly dusted with rice flour or all-purpose flour to about a 12" round about ⅛" thick. Brush excess flour from dough and transfer to a 9"-diameter pie pan, preferably metal. Lift edges and allow dough to slump down into pan, then press dough firmly into bottom and sides. Trim, leaving about 1" overhang. Fold overhang under to make dough flush with edges of pan and press firmly to seal; crimp edges as desired. Prick bottom and sides of dough several times with a fork. Chill 15 minutes.
Step 9
Place a rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 375°. Place crust on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Crumple up 2 sheets of parchment paper, then unfold and use to line crust. Fill with pie weights or dried beans (they should fill to the edges). Bake crust until edges are golden brown and bottom is opaque (carefully lift parchment to check), 30–35 minutes. Remove from oven; reduce oven temperature to 350°. Lift out parchment and weights. Return crust to oven and continue to bake until bottom and sides are evenly golden brown all over, 20–25 minutes longer.
Step 10
Spoon filling into crust and top with streusel, covering filling evenly. Bake until filling is bubbling up through streusel and streusel is golden, 50–60 minutes. Transfer pie pan to a wire rack and let pie cool in pan, at least 4 hours.
Do Ahead: Streusel can be made 1 week ahead; keep chilled, or freeze in an airtight container up to 1 month. Pie can be baked 1 day ahead; cover and chill.
