I’m going to call this the summer of pies. Yeah, I know this is my first recipe for pie and it’s July already. It’s hardly my fault that I’ve just discovered the perfect pie crust dough recipe. Actually, it is my fault. To make it better, I promise to make many pies.

I’ve used the recipe for flaky, all butter pie dough from Smitten Kitchen as the mothership dough. I’d read the recipe long ago, lusted over slab pies ever since, but just never gotten around to making it. To the original recipe, I just added slightly more sugar as I worried about the overall sweetness of the pie.

While I planned the pie dough, I was pretty relaxed about the filling. After all, we’d done a farm shop crawl last week and came back with cherries, gooseberries and strawberries. Solid, right? Well, not quite – in our group of friends and acquaintances, I seem to have the only kid who will openly devour fruit in industrial quantities. Not that I’m complaining – we’ve had a rough start in life with Mimi and feeding was a challenge well beyond her first year of life, so her eating all my baking supplies? I say hallelujah! A quick trip to the supermarket yielded apricots and nectarines, so I was back in business.

The results? Super flaky dough crumbles around oozy chunks of sweet fruit. Super fine for a lazy dessert, for a picnic, or even for a cheeky breakfast. Hey, it was all in the name of testing for the blog.

For the dough, you’ll need:
315g plain white flour
30g granulated sugar
5g fine salt
225g unsalted butter, very cold, cubed
Very, very cold water – approx 1 cup
Egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon water), for ready dough

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
Add the cubed butter and work into the flour mix by hand, until mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. You want small flakes of butter still visible.
Add water, starting with 8 tablespoons and working in either by hand or with a spatula.
Add more water, gradually, one tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together.
Divide into two pieces – one slightly larger than the other – pack into plastic wrap, pat down into discs and place in fridge for at least 1 hour. If you’re cooking in a heatwave like I did (yayyy!), allow for at least 2 hours.

For the filling, you’ll need:
750g apricots, washed, halved and pits out
250g nectarines, washed, pits out, halved and sliced
200g granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour

Toss the apricots and nectarines with the sugar and cornflour. Set aside while you assemble the pie.

Pre-heat oven at 190C.
Butter a pie dish – I used a square tray, 23cm x 23cm.
Flour the worktop well. Roll out the larger piece of dough first, aiming for a rough square shape. You need the dough to be large enough to hang over the sides of the tray a little.
Pour the fruit on top of the dough, making sure any juices, sugar and cornflour syrup go with it.
Roll the second piece of dough and place on top.
Tuck in at the sides, pulling the overhanging dough edges on top inwards.
Poke top layer of dough with a fork all over. (I mean it!)
Brush with egg wash.
Place in oven for 35 to 45 minutes.
Remove from oven, remove from pan / tray and leave to cool slightly on a rack before serving.

Enjoy with some ice cream on top. Lucky you, you won’t have to wait for the ice cream to melt in a oh-so-sexy drizzle to get the money shot before you can enjoy your slice. XD

Notes:
You can substitute apricots and nectarines for your fruit of choice. Just balance out the sugar according to your selection.
You can also go for a lower quantity of filling. As my oven tray was quite deep, I went with a deep dish version, but you can go with 600 – 700g of fruit, which will result in a more classic slab pie. Which you can also cook in a rectangular tray – go crazy, as long as you try it!

Happy Sunday to all,
Alex xxx