Peach Crumble Slab Pie

- Total Time
- 2½ hours, plus 1 hour's chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2½cups/300 grams all-purpose flour, more as needed
- ¾teaspoon/4 grams fine sea salt
- 2½sticks/10 ounces/285 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 4 to 6tablespoons ice water, as needed
- 6pounds ripe peaches, nectarines or a mix, pitted and cut into 1½-inch chunks
- 1¼cups/135 grams packed light brown sugar, more to taste
- ⅓cup/50 grams instant tapioca
- Zest of 3 lemons
- 3tablespoons/45 milliliters fresh lemon juice
- 1½teaspoons/5 grams finely grated nutmeg
- 1vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped, or 1 teaspoon/5 milliliters vanilla extract
- 1teaspoon/6 grams fine sea salt
- 1½cups/180 grams all-purpose flour
- 1cup/200 grams packed dark brown sugar
- 2teaspoons/10 grams ground cinnamon
- 1½teaspoons/3 grams ground ginger
- ½teaspoon/3 grams fine sea salt
- 1½sticks/6 ounces/170 grams unsalted butter, cubed
For the Crust
For the Filling
For the Crumble Topping
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the crust: In a food processor, briefly pulse together flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms chickpea-size pieces (6 to 8 1-second pulses). Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse until mixture is just moist enough to hold together. Form dough into a large ball. Wrap with plastic and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
- Step 2
Using a lightly floured rolling pin, gently roll out dough to an 11-x-15-inch rectangle, dusting with flour if dough is sticking. Fold dough in half and transfer to a 9-x-13-inch baking dish. Carefully press crust into the bottom of the pan and completely up the edges so it’s flush with the top of the pan (you don’t need to crimp the dough). Return crust to refrigerator while you prepare the filling and crumble topping.
- Step 3
Make the filling: In a large bowl, toss together peaches, sugar, tapioca, lemon zest and juice, nutmeg, vanilla and salt. Let stand 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and add a little more sugar if needed.
- Step 4
Meanwhile, heat oven to 425 degrees. Place a large rimmed baking sheet on the oven floor to preheat. Arrange one oven rack on the lowest position and a second rack in the center position.
- Step 5
Make the crumble topping: Whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Mix in butter with your fingertips until mixture is uniformly moist and comes together in large clumps.
- Step 6
Assemble the pie: Spoon filling into crust and top with crumble. Move baking sheet to the lowest rack and place pie on baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. Move baking sheet with pie to the center rack. Continue baking until pie is golden brown and filling is bubbling, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Private Notes
Comments
Please just make this dessert as is. Do not cut the sugar, use oats if you want- but why? The filling is great, the streusel is a beautiful textural contrast, the crust is delicious. Again just stop with the changes, recipe the first time by the book.
You can easily cut the sugar in the filling by at least half, or it's overkill with the sweet topping. And sub half of the flour in the topping with rolled oats, rubbed between your palms. Still tasty but less over-the-top.
This is great as is. A perfect indulgence. If you had it every week, you might think about adjusting down, but really, folks, does there have to be a change or comment on everything? Sometimes I just want to say, thank you.
I didn't make the bottom crust... Turned out fine.
I made this as written for New Years Eve in Australia (when peaches are in season) and it was a magnificent crowd-pleaser. I usually scoff at the reviews that suggest reducing the sugar … but my peaches were sweet and the final dish was too sweet for the Australian palate. So next time I will adjust a bit. Didn’t really stop anyone from scoffing it though!
This recipe was indulgent, yes, and made a LOT! I ended up splitting it between a 9x13 and an 8x4 pan. The recipe has a bit too much nutmeg and lemon zest for me, so next time I will reduce both but I’m glad I tried it as is for my first time making it! Colorado peach season didn’t disappoint this year and this was the perfect end of summer treat.
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