They Can't All Be Winners


Man…have I been slacking off, or what? Despite my lack of posts here, I have not quit cooking. On the contrary, I have tons of food pics stored up in my phone—so many, in fact, that the storage is almost full. I decided I better get some posted to make room for others.

To look at my previous posts, you might be thinking to yourself that I never have kitchen mishaps, or downright disasters. Ha! I have burned dinner (just once, but still). I have overcooked a birthday cake for Mike to the point that it was totally inedible. And, I have made this pie.

I really had high hopes for it…peach pie with a sunflower crust just sounded so tasty to me. I like peaches, pie, sunflowers…it seemed like a match made in heaven. I had a little trouble finding any of the specialty flours, so used whole wheat flour. I carefully followed the recipe to the letter, and yet…this just wasn’t all that great. It definitely has potential, and I would still encourage you to try it, but it just didn’t do it for me. The crust had an ok flavor, but it was so thick that it seemed heavy and soggy, not at all like the crunchy, nutty flavor I was expecting. The filling was good enough, but the crust totally drowned out the fresh flavor of the peaches for me. (I peeled my peaches even though the recipe said not to, but I seriously doubt this is what caused my issues.)

But still, here it is. In fairness, I used one of my favorite books, and it’s the first time a recipe from it hasn’t been delicious. I’m suspecting that it was operator error and not the recipe. Let me know if you try it…maybe I can correct my mistakes and have better success next time.

Fresh Peach Pie with Sunflower Crust

Sunflower Seed Pastry
3 cups spelt flour, kamut flour or whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup (about) water

Peach Filling
10 large ripe peaches
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons honey

For the pastry, blend the spelt flour, salt and sunflower seeds in a food processor until the consistency of cornmeal. Add the oil gradually, processing constantly. Add the water 1 tablespoon at a time until the pastry is lightly moist but not sticky. Divide the pastry into two equal portions. Roll each portion on a lightly floured surface into a circle. Fit one pastry circle into a 9-inch pie plate.

For the filling, rinse the peaches and pat dry. Cut the unpeeled peaches into slices. Combine with the flour, lemon juice and honey in a bowl and toss to coat. Spoon into the pastry-lined pie plate. Top with the remaining pastry circle, fluting the edges and cutting vents. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake for 20 minutes longer or until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

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