Award-winning bourbon peach pie

Instructions

• Make the dough
• Toast pecans in a pan over medium heat, tossing frequently until fragrant and lightly browned. Then, briefly pulse in a food processor until ground into small pieces. Pecans won’t grind finely without becoming moist due to their fat content, so no need to grind super finely. Let cool before using.
• Fill a measuring cup with ice water and place in the fridge. Cut one stick of butter into thin 1/8″ slices and store in the fridge until ready to use.
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, ground pecans, sugar, and salt. Cut the second stick of butter into small 1/2″ cubes and toss in the flour mixture. Working quickly, press the butter pieces into the dough with your fingers until they are no larger than the size of a pea.
• Remove the sliced butter from the fridge and add to the mixture. Press with your hands to flatten the pieces into thin sheets. These pieces can stay somewhat large, as long as they’re flattened. Add in 3 Tbsp of ice water and mix with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Transfer the moistened clumps of dough onto plastic wrap, leaving the dried bits in the bowl. Add small amounts of water to the remaining mixture in the bowl, 1 tsp at a time, to bring the rest of the dough together until you have few dry spots and the dough will come together into a rough ball. Add the rest of the dough to the plastic wrap and pat down into a 3/4 inch square or rectangle. Refrigerate overnight.
• (Optional). After 2 hours, let the dough rest at room temp for about 10 minutes, cut the dough in half and on a lightly floured surface roll each one out into a long, thin rectangle. It’s okay if the dough cracks some at this stage and your rectangle is a rough shape. Fold each one into thirds, rewrap and continue refrigerating overnight. This can help build some layers in the flaky crust.
• Assemble the pie
• Remove one half of the pie dough (if you didn’t do optional step 5 above, you can cut the dough in half at this point and take half out and put half back in the fridge) and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, dice the peaches and add to a large bowl along with sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt. Mix until evenly coasted and set aside for 30-60 minutes.
• Get the second half of the pie dough and set aside to warm up while you work with the first half. Beat the dough with your rolling pin to soften it and roll out into a large circle that will fit over your pie plate with some overhang. Gently fold in half and transfer to the pie plate. Unfold into the pie plate and gently press down to ensure the crust fits snugly in the bottom and up the sides. Trim so you have about a 1/2-inch overhang off the sides. Lightly cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
• Now turn to the other half of the dough. Roll out to a similar size on a piece of parchment paper. Cut 1-1.5″ strips with the dough for the lattice, ensuring you have at least 7 strips. Place the parchment paper on the back of a baking tray, lightly cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge.
• Drain the juices from the peaches into a saucepan and set the peaches back in their original bowl. Add the bourbon and bring to a boil. Let boil until reduced by at least about half and the mixture has visibly begun to thicken and turn slightly more syrupy, about 10-15 minutes. Stir occassionally.
• Mix together the cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger. Sprinkle over the saucepan and whisk in until there are no clumps remaining and the mixture has turned into a much thicker syrup about 1-2 minutes. Pour the syrup mixture over the peaches and toss to coat.
• Preheat the oven to 425 with a baking sheet inside on the bottom rack (if using a glass pie plate don’t preheat the baking sheet). Remove the pie plate and lattice pieces from the fridge. Pour the peaches into the pie and lightly press down to ensure the filling is evenly spread and packed down. Assemble approximately 4 lattice strips going in one direction, choosing your longest strips for the middle and shorter strips for the edges. Then add about 3 more in the other direction. Start by sliding a strip onto the pie, placing it over the first perpendicular strip, under the next, over the the following, and under the last one. Slide into the center of the pie. Do the same with the two strips on either side of the center, doing the opposite weaving (first under, then over, etc).
• Trim any overhang beyond 1/2″ of the edge. Fold and press the bottom crust up and over the lattice pieces, pressing all the way around, to create a sealed, thick crust on the outside. Using your index finger on the inside of the crust, and pressing it gently between your index finger and thumb on the other side, make pleats all the way around the pie. You can also press down with a fork if you prefer instead of the pleats.
• If the butter in your dough is getting quite soft, refrigerate for about 10 minutes. Remove from the fridge. Crack an egg into a small dish and beat with a fork. Brush the eggwash over the lattice pieces and around the crust. Sprinkle with sugar (bonus points if you use demerara sugar but I just used regular granulated sugar). Bake at 425 for 20 minutes on the bottom rack. Reduce temperature to 375, rotate and bake for another 25-30 minutes until the crust is browned and you can see some of the filling in the very center of the pie begin to bubble.
• Let cool for about 3-4 hours to fully set before serving.