America's Test Kitchen

-Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Bridget makes Julia fresh peach pie with all-butter lattice top, and Jack talks about sweeteners.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

-The only thing better than enjoying a big piece of peach pie in the height of summer, when peaches are at their best, is having your dear friend make it for you.

-Make it with you.

-[ Laughs ] Touch.

-We're gonna make this together, a beautiful peach pie... -Mmm.

-...juicy, succulent, gorgeous crust.

-Mm-hmm.

-And that's where we start.

-Okay.

-Okay, and we're using an all-butter pie crust, so, you know it's gonna be delicious.

-Mm-hmm.

-But we want to make sure it's nice and tender, still stands up to the peach juices, but has a little bit of a flakiness to it, as well.

-Okay.

-So we're going to use a total of 20 tablespoons.

But for our first part, we're going to grate 4 tablespoons.

-Mm-hmm.

-Just going to take a paring knife and score it right at 4 tablespoons.

I make my way around here.

Just go through the wrapper.

-Leave yourself a handle.

-I've got a butter handle.

-[ Laughs ] -Makes it easier to snack on.

-[ Laughs ] -And I'm going to grate this right on the holes of a box grater.

-Mm-hmm.

Smooth like butter.

-Ooh, it is.

And once you start getting to the wrapper, yeah, take it easy there.

Alright, so let me just give this to you.

Okay?

So I'll put the grated butter right into this bowl, and we want to get this super cold so that it stays chilled when we go to roll out the dough later on.

So I'm going to put it in the freezer.

It just takes a few moments for it to get nice and firm.

-Okay.

-We've got some flour in here.

I've got 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.

That's 7 1/2 ounces.

Going to add a little bit of sugar, 2 tablespoons here, and I've got some salt here.

This is a teaspoon of just plain old table salt.

Alright, and I'm just gonna blitz this a couple of times until it's incorporated.

[ Blender whirring ] Alright.

I mentioned more butter.

We have more butter here.

16 tablespoons of super-cold butter.

So just pile these in.

Break them up -- about 1/2-inch pieces.

And now I'm going to let this whirl for about 40 to 50 seconds.

If I have to go in there and scrape it down, I will.

But I really want that butter to start to coat the flour at this point, make it almost waterproof.

Et voil.

-You really made a dough out of that.

-I love this method because it really does make an easy to roll out pie dough that's still really nice and flaky and tender.

So we're going to break that up into 2-inch chunks.

Alright, so that's all broken up.

Now I'm going to add a little bit more flour.

This is another cup, 5 ounces, of all-purpose flour.

We're going to use that to make this into more crumble.

So, lid goes back on.

I'm going to pulse this four to five pulses.

And what I'm looking for is the largest pieces to be about an inch.

-Okay.

-Alright, let's take a look.

I'm going to use this little spatula here.

So you see, there's some bigger pieces, some smaller pieces.

-Mm-hmm.

-Looking pretty good, though.

-Yeah, that's looking more like a traditional pie dough at this point.

-Exactly.

Alright, so, now I'm going to dump this out into a bowl here, but if you wouldn't mind, while I do that, can you go get that butter that I grated?

-You bet.

Here you are, my darling.

-There you go.

This is the super-cold, really well-chilled butter.

Now, this is going to go into our mixture here.

You could use a spatula for this, but I really like to get it in there and kind of break apart the butter, make sure that it's coated with the flour at this point.

Alright, so this is looking pretty good.

Last ingredient for our pie dough is water.

Ice cold.

-Yep.

-So, I'm using a total of 1/2 cup.

It's okay if a couple of little cubes get in there.

Gonna start off with 1/4.

And at this point, obviously, it's not going to be totally absorbed, but I'm looking for most of it to be absorbed and kind of evenly dispersed.

-Mm-hmm.

-That looks pretty good.

-Mm-hmm.

-Starting to look a little more crumbly.

-Yep.

-Alright, and now I need another 1/4 cup of the ice water, and now I'm just going to toss this 1/2 cup of water for 2 1/2 cups of flour.

-That's a lot of water for a pie dough, but that's why it's so easy to roll out.

-That's true, and it's also -- don't forget, we're making a double crust.

-That's right.

-A very special double crust.

And now I'm just going to toss this and mix it with a spatula here until it starts to form a dough.

Pressing this into a mass so I can really see what half of it looks like.

There we go.

We're gonna divide this into two.

Doesn't have to be perfectly even, but close enough.

There we go, and you can feel how sticky that dough is.

You want it moist enough so that it's going to roll out beautifully.

Just going to take my plastic wrap, start to kind of shove it into a disc.

-I love this method.

-I'm looking for a 5-inch disc, but I just want to get it so that there aren't any fissures or cracks.

And at this point, I can start to pad it into a 5-inch round.

Alright, so that looks great.

Now I'll do it with the second round.

And then after that, these are going to go into the fridge, and they'll stay in there until it's really nicely chilled and the pie dough is hydrated.

That's gonna take a minimum of two hours, but you can leave it in there for two days.

[ Sniffs ] Mmm.

-[ Sniffs ] Oh, goodness, that smells good.

I've got 3 pounds of ripe, juicy peaches.

-Mm-hmm.

-Now, you want them a little bit soft.

Not too soft, because we want to peel them, and it's really easy to peel them with a Y-peeler by hand.

But if they're too ripe, you can still use them in this recipe.

You're just going to need to blanch the peaches.

-Mm-hmm.

-You can go check that out on our website for more instructions.

So now I just want to get rid of the skins, little fuzzies here.

-Now, have you ever used a serrated peeler to do this?

-They're fabulous for that, as well.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Just a little shimmy.

When they get a little slippery, sometimes you don't want to put any pressure on them.

So now we need to get rid of the pit.

Peach holder.

Just gonna take a knife and work it around the equator here.

Rotate the peach.

Just like that.

-Oh!

You hit the lottery!

That is a nice, little free stone.

Alright, so, each of these halves I'm going to cut in half.

So quartering each whole peach.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then each of these halves I'm just going to cut into thirds.

-Nice, big chunks.

-Yes.

Peaches are a generous fruit.

-[ Laughs ] -They love to share their juice with everyone.

And in a pie, that's not such a good thing, because you'll end up with peach soup en crote.

-Mm-hmm, and a soggy crust.

-And we do not want that.

We want to contain the peaches, control the peaches, if you will.

So I'm going to macerate these peaches, and it's going to help to release some of their liquid.

But for now, again, that's 3 pounds of peaches and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar.

Tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

This is a teaspoon of grated lemon zest, and a pinch of salt.

This is 1/8 teaspoon of salt, just enough to heighten the flavor.

I'm gonna toss these.

Oh.

-I could eat those right now.

-Yeah!

-I'm starting -- mouth's starting to drool a little bit.

Those look so glossy, and the fragrance they're giving off is out of this world.

-So, I need to leave this be.

I'm gonna let these sit here at room temp, so you can leave it for an hour.

And during that time, the sugar is going to start to pull out some of those juices.

-Now, you may think sugar is just sugar.

It's sweet and otherwise not that interesting.

I'm here to tell you otherwise, and in fact, I keep seven different forms of sugar in my pantry.

Let me explain why.

Now, we're gonna start with the thing I know you already have, which is granulated sugar.

This is from either sugarcane or sugar beets.

It is the most versatile choice.

But its close cousin here is superfine sugar.

Superfine is really the best choice for things where you want the sugar to dissolve quickly and where gritty texture would be a problem -- sponge cake, shortbread, meringues.

Now, if you get caught without superfine sugar, you can simply throw granulated sugar in the food processor, 15, 20 seconds, and you're going to have something that's a pretty close approximation.

Next up is confectioner's sugar.

This is basically pulverized granulated sugar with a little bit of cornstarch added.

Now, you can replicate this, also, at home, but it's going to take a long time.

Honestly, you should just buy it.

You're gonna need it for dusting over a cake, for making glazes, and for making candies.

Next up, molasses.

Now, technically, this is not a sugar.

This is a byproduct of the sugar-making process.

When it comes to molasses, you can use any kind -- mild, unsulfured, robust -- except for blackstrap molasses.

It's really quite bitter.

In addition to baked goods, we often use a little bit of molasses in things like a chili, where we want a hint of sweetness, but we want the complexity and the bitterness that comes with molasses.

Now, I mention molasses because that's the thing that differentiates the brown sugars from the white sugars.

I've got dark brown sugar here and light brown sugar.

Basically, the dark brown sugar has 6% to 7% molasses content.

The light brown sugar is just 3% or 4%.

If you're somebody who's constantly finding that your brown sugar is rock hard, you can take a cup of granulated sugar and either a tablespoon of molasses for light brown sugar or 2 tablespoons of molasses for dark brown sugar, and make a quick approximation of brown sugar.

Last but not least on the table, I've got turbinado sugar here.

It's demerara sugar, sugar in the raw.

It has these really hard granules.

And the reason why that's important is because it's really not a substitute for granulated sugar.

It won't dissolve, and you end up with those chunks in the finished product.

Now, it is lovely for sprinkling on top of, let's say muffins, for instance, or if you want to create a crackling crust on a crme brle, this turbinado sugar -- that's the best choice.

So, sugar, there's a reason why I keep seven of them in my pantry.

-I told you I was gonna put you to work.

-I like it.

-[ Laughs ] It's time to roll out our dough.

Again, it chilled for a good two hours.

We let it sit out for about 10 minutes so it's a bit more malleable.

-Yeah, it feels perfect.

-And I need you to get that dough round until it's about 12 inches.

Now, in the meantime, I'm going to roll out this round into a 13x10-1/2-inch rectangle.

-Rectangle.

-We are making lattice.

-Aha!

-Anytime you're working with a juicy fruit, a lattice-top pie is perfect.

-Mm-hmm.

Allows for evaporation of the extra peach juices.

-That's right.

-And it's pretty.

-That's right.

It is pretty.

Alright.

-So, 12 inches for me.

-Yes.

You want to see my cool technique?

-Do I?

-I do this.

-Oh, 'cause you're going in a square, so you're starting it in a square shape.

-I kind of start it in a square shape.

That's exactly right.

-That makes sense.

-And I like what you're doing there.

You are rotating the dough as you roll it out.

-Yeah.

I'm a spinner.

-What's great about working with pie dough, and especially important with butter pie dough, is anytime it gets warm, you can put it onto a tray and put it right back into the fridge and let it cool down again.

-Let's see how I'm doing here.

Oh, just shy of 12 inches, which is good, 'cause now I can start to really home in on that round shape.

It's a little thin over here.

-Alright, Bridget.

How are you?

-I'm perfect.

It's pretty round.

-Alright.

-It's a rustic round.

-Got a 9-inch pie plate for you.

-Mm-hmm.

Ooh, a nice, heavy one.

-Yeah, so if you wouldn't mind rolling that into the pie plate.

-You got it.

Using my rolling pin as a nice way to transfer the dough gently.

Captain, we have made it.

-That is gorgeous.

Yeah, if you could just loosely cover that with plastic wrap.

-You bet.

-I've got 13 inches this way, and I'm looking for 10 1/2 this way.

So this is looking great.

-Sure does.

-Alright, so, I've got a rimmed baking sheet, a little bit of parchment on it, and I'm just going to transfer the dough right onto that.

And like you, I'm going to cover it loosely with some plastic wrap.

Alright, we just don't want it to dry out.

-Yep.

-And then these are going to go into the fridge, and we want them to get nice and chilled.

We keep them in there for about 30 minutes.

-Okeydoke.

The lattice dough is nice and chilled.

We can cut strips.

-This is one of my favorite parts.

-So, one of the things that I want to do is kind of tidy up these edges.

So I'm going to take about 1/4 inch off of the long edges, using my ruler as a guide here.

There you go.

-Mmm.

-This creates that nice little edges on the lattice.

-Mm-hmm.

-So now we want to cut eight 1 1/4-inch strips.

Luckily for us, the ruler is 1 1/4 inches wide.

So I'm just going to line it up on this first cut.

Don't want to use too much pressure.

And then keep moving down the line.

Alright, I'm gonna keep cutting these until I have eight strips, and after that, I'll put them back on that baking sheet and put them back in the fridge, let them chill for 30 minutes.

-Okeydoke.

-Look at what a half an hour can do to a peach.

-Those are some juicy peaches.

-A lot of that liquid has come out of the peaches.

They've broken down a little bit, softened.

So now we want to create something called a peach mortar.

-[ Chuckles ] -Yeah, think about it.

We've got these big chunks in here, and we want to have a little bit of that peach kind of puree in between.

We don't want the whole thing to be pureed, just enough.

-Okay.

-So I'm going to take a cup of peaches.

Super juicy peaches.

Just put it in a little bowl.

Now, I'm going to mash this with a fork.

Alright, this is starting to look pretty good.

Takes a little effort at first.

So, I'm going to set this aside.

Try not to eat it.

For the rest of the peaches, we now need to drain them because we want to separate the whole peaches from the juice.

So right through a colander into a big, old bowl here.

-Oh, goodness!

-Look at the color of that juice down there.

-It's incredible.

-Alright.

So, I'm going to put the peaches back into that bowl.

If I could hand that to you.

-You bet.

-We want to collect 1/2 cup of peach juice here.

-Mm, you're good.

-That's it?

-That's it.

-1/2 cup.

I'm gonna go ahead and put this in a skillet, and we'll get back to that in just a moment.

Now, when it comes to thickening peach pie or any kind of fruit pie, you know, we love a lot of the different thickeners for different reasons.

-Mm-hmm.

-There's tapioca, flour, cornstarch.

We're gonna use two different kinds here.

I've got a tablespoon of cornstarch, and I'll sprinkle it right over the peaches.

That's not a lot of thickener.

-Just enough to absorb any excess moisture that comes out after this point.

-That's right.

So, this is not the only thickener that we're gonna use.

So, for all those juices... -Mm-hmm.

-...we don't want to use cornstarch for that 'cause we'd end up with a gloppy mess.

-Mm-hmm.

-We're going to use fruit pectin.

-Clever.

I like the combo of cornstarch and pectin.

-So, just enough that it's going to thicken it, give it a little bit of body, but not so much that we're making a jelly.

-That makes sense.

-This is low-sugar pectin, and it's 2 tablespoons.

Going to add an equal amount, 2 tablespoons, of granulated sugar.

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.

And a little bit of nutmeg.

Just a pinch.

Freshly ground is great.

-Mmm.

-Alright, so, just whisking this together to break it up, break up all that sugar.

And now I'm going to add the pectin right into the skillet.

I'm gonna whisk this together.

-Mmm.

-Alright, so, I'm going to turn this to medium heat here, and we're gonna cook this until it's just slightly thickened.

It starts to look a little less cloudy.

And that's gonna take anywhere between 3 to 5 minutes.

-Okeydoke.

[ Sniffs ] That smells incredible.

-Peaches, cinnamon, sugar.

That's it.

Alright, so, this looks great.

It's slightly thickened.

It's turned a little bit more translucent.

I've killed the heat underneath here because it's time to add our peach mixture right into the pan.

There we go.

That's for you.

-Mm-hmm.

-We can't forget our little peach mortar here, our peach paste.

-I love that trick.

And I'm gonna toss this carefully.

That peach syrup is super hot, but we're not cooking this mixture any more on the stovetop.

We want to retain the big chunks of peaches the best that we can 'cause we know it's gonna spend some time in the oven.

That is looking pretty darn good.

Now, I've got your beautifully rolled out bottom crust here, so let me go ahead and pour this right in there.

Oh, pack it in.

-All that goodness.

-No peach left behind.

Let me just zhuzh it.

Now, we do want to get it a little bit flattened here, just a tad.

It's gonna make it easier for us to apply the lattice.

So, we're going to make an actual lattice here.

-Yay!

-A real, live lattice.

-It's just not that hard.

-It really isn't, especially once you get into the rhythm.

So I'm gonna take four strips and place them right on top.

-Boy, that dough is handling beautifully.

-Isn't it?

-Yeah.

-It's really, really chilled.

Alright, so, we're going to label these 1, 2, 3, 4.

-Alright.

-So for a lattice, you just want to lift one... ...and three, and kind of tuck this towards the edge of the pie this way.

Now we're gonna do the same with two and four.

I'm gonna go ahead and do it like this, put another lattice strip right there, tuck it in there, and just make sure the lattice is relatively even.

And then one and three go back.

-Mm, beautiful.

-How's that?

-Love it.

-So now I'm gonna work my way around.

Just cut any excess dough.

I want about a half-inch overhang.

Use a pair of scissors.

You can use a paring knife.

I like to pinch the dough as I work my way around.

Let's make this pie pretty.

I've got a little bit of flour here.

So, the dough can start to get a little sticky.

We want it to stick together, but not to our hands.

So I'm just really kind of sealing that lattice to the bottom crust, pinching it, making it a little bit thinner.

-Mm-hmm.

-Gonna create that lovely edge.

I'm just gonna fold both the top lattice and the bottom crust that's overhanging... -Mm-hmm.

-...right underneath itself.

-Sealing the edges.

-Sealing the edges.

And I love a really nice, substantial crust that's rolled under.

I don't like it when they're really, really tiny.

I just kind of gingerly work my way around making a little bit larger crimps, just like that.

-Nice.

-What do you think?

-I like it.

-Does that work?

-Yeah, it's gorgeous.

-Don't worry about any excess flour on your fingers.

Much better for your finger to release and not take the dough with it.

The final zhuzh.

-Hmm.

-We want to give this a little sprinkling of sugar.

That's gonna make it really nice and sparkly, a little crunchy.

Now, to get the sugar to stick, just a light mist of water, and then a tablespoon of sugar.

-Mmm-mmm-mmm.

-Oh, isn't she pretty?

-I think she's ready for the oven.

-I think you're correct.

It's time for baking.

So, I've got a preheated baking sheet in the oven.

The oven is set pretty high temperature -- 425.

We're gonna start it in there for a good 20 minutes.

After that, I'm gonna reduce the oven temperature to 375, rotate the pie, and let it go another 25 to 30 minutes.

-Okay, and you really only should do that preheated baking sheet if you use a metal pie plate.

If you use glass, it could shatter.

-Alright, let's get it into the oven.

If you wouldn't mind getting the door for me.

-You bet.

I smell it.

[ Sniffs ] Oh, beautiful!

-Come here with me.

-[ Gasps ] -Now, obviously, we don't want to eat it right now.

We're gonna let it cool for a good three hours before we cut into it and eat.

-Yeah.

-That makes sense, 'cause it's lava hot and we need it to set up.

-That's right.

Ahh, three hours later, this is what we get.

-I think it's gonna be worth the wait, but there's only one way to know for sure.

-We should eat it.

-[ Chuckles ] -Just have to have a moment.

See these little drips of peach juice?

-Oh.

-That's kind of like peach candy.

-Yeah.

-Alright, I'm gonna give you a beautiful slice here.

Take my time.

Cut through the bottom.

-The fact that you're cutting through the bottom means that that bottom crust is not soggy.

-That's right.

-Which makes me very happy.

-Notice that I don't do small slices.

-I'm very thankful for that.

But a little sweetened whipped cream would be perfect here.

-I've tried so hard to hold back.

I really just need to taste this now.

Mmm.

The peaches are perfection.

It tastes like a fresh peach that's just been kissed by the oven under the crust.

-There's no doubt that we're in peach season.

-Yeah.

-A little bit of cinnamon in there, what do you think?

-Just a little bit.

I like it.

It's just a background note that adds a little bit of complexity, but really, it's all about the peaches.

-The best part of this, we made it together.

-Best part of this is that we have more.

-I retract my statement.

-Bridget, it was fun making pie with you, and I'm enjoying eating it even more.

-Okay.

-Thank you.

-You bet.

-You want to make this incredible summer peach pie, use a combination of cubed and shredded butter when making the dough.

Drain the peaches and use both cornstarch and pectin as thickeners, and make a lattice top crust.

From America's Test Kitchen, a perfect fresh peach pie.

Bridget, you've outdone yourself.

-We're almost out of peaches.

-Mmm.

-So I'll get the car.

Road trip.

-Okay, Thelma.