Best Homemade Peach Lattice Pie

There is nothing like a fresh, juicy peach that’s perfectly sweet and ripe, and when peach season arrives, what better dessert to make than homemade peach pie? I look forward to fresh peaches every summer, and I love that peach season just so happens to fall on my birthday month. Colorado has delicious peaches (as well as vineyards), grown in the western slopes in Palisade, which is just five hours from Denver.

Every summer, as soon as the peaches are ready, I make a peach pie. Although you could make peach pie any time of year by using frozen peaches, there’s just nothing like the flavor of fresh peaches, sweetened with brown sugar and spiced with a little nutmeg, cooked into a sweet and juicy filling, surrounded by flaky pie crust. It’s so hard not to sneak a taste when the pie emerges from the oven, golden brown, hot and bubbling, and that first bite is everything. The sweet peaches, the hint of nutmeg and the buttery, flaky crust all work together in perfect harmony. It’s the taste of warm summer days.

You might also love these blackberry crumb bars, blueberry lattice pie, and brown butter peach crumb bars.

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Why You’ll Love This Pie

Juicy Peach Filling. Peach season is short, and it deserves to be celebrated with pie. The filling is perfectly sweetened, gooey, and bursting with fresh peach flavor.

Buttery Crust. The crust is flaky, crisp and buttery, everything that a good pie crust should be.

Delicious Anytime of Day. Pie for dessert? Obviously. Pie for breakfast? Why not?

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

It only takes a few simple ingredients to make an absolutely delicious pie. You’ll love the results of making your own dough and filling from fresh, simple, in season ingredients.

• Double Pie Crust. Be sure to read my post on making the perfect All-Butter Pie Dough.
• Peaches. You’ll need 8-9 large peaches, or about 3 pounds.
• Sugar. A combination of granulated sugar and dark brown sugar is delicious with the peaches.
• Corn Starch. Thickens and sets the filling.
• Nutmeg. A little spice complements the flavor of the peaches.
• Flour. I always sprinkle a little flour on the bottom crust to prevent a soggy bottom.

TIP: Use fresh peaches when they’re in season throughout June and July, or frozen peaches in the off season.

All-Butter Crust

Every great pie starts with a great pie crust. Homemade pie dough isn’t difficult to make, and it tastes so much better than store-bought. I haven’t bought pre-made pie dough in years, and I’ve tested my homemade, all-butter pie dough recipe dozens of times to perfect the balance of ingredients and the method of mixing and rolling.

I’ve written a step-by-step tutorial on making pie dough that I hope you’ll read. It demonstrates exactly what the dough should look like at each step of the process, and breaks down each step so that even someone who’s never made pie dough before can quickly master the skill.

Although many people make their pie dough with a food processor, I prefer making mine by hand with a simple pastry cutter. It’s just as quick, really, when you factor in the effort and time of assembling, disassembling, and cleaning a food processor, and with a pastry cutter, I have more control over how I’m cutting the butter into the flour.

After cutting the butter into rough chunks, I smash the butter flat with my fingers, and then stir in the liquid, before quickly bringing it all together into a dough that should just barely hold together. I roll the dough out, then fold it up into thirds, and then thirds again, at which point it’s ready to roll out for your pie. The folding method adds more layers of butter, which means a lighter, flakier crust. And a light, flaky crust that tastes rich and buttery is the gold standard of pie dough.

Instructions

With certain fruit fillings, in particular for cherry, apple and blueberry pies, I always pre-cook my filling to ensure that it thickens properly. My biggest fear with fruit pies is a messy, runny filling that didn’t thicken correctly, and pre-cooking not only provides peace of mind in that regard, but it also lets the flavors mingle and marry if you prepare the filling a day in advance of baking your pie.

Peaches, though, are a little more delicate, and pre-cooking the filling would break down the peach slices too much. The answer, then, is a long bake time (90 minutes) at a moderate temperature of 375, to allow the filling sufficient time to thicken in the oven without over-cooking the crust.

What you want to watch for are slow, thick bubbles, like warm jam, bubbling in the center of the pie and spilling over the edges. Your house will smell fantastic, and you’ll know your pie is ready to come out of the oven. Waiting for it to cool is the hardest part.

Make the Pie Dough.

• In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Dice the cold butter into 1/4 inch cubes, and scatter over the flour mixture. Use a pastry cutter, to cut the butter in until the pieces of butter are no bigger than peas.
• Get your hands into the flour and use your fingers to smash all the butter pieces flat. Add the cold milk and the egg yolk (reserve the egg white for brushing over the top crust) and use a fork to combine until moistened and crumbly.
• Turn the dough mixture out onto a clean work surface, and use your hands to bring the dough together into a ball, taking care not to overwork the dough, and stopping when it sticks together.
• On a well-floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick, using a bench scraper and more flour as needed, to loosen the dough from the counter. Fold up into thirds, and then in thirds again, so you have a little package of folded dough.
• Divide the dough into two portions, shape each portion into a disk-shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15 minutes while you prepare the filling.

TIP: Keep the pie dough as cold as possible before baking, to ensure a flaky, crisp crust.

Make the Peach Filling.

• If using fresh peaches, peel and pit the peaches, then slice into 1/4 inch slices.
• If using frozen peaches, let them thaw completely.
• In a large bowl, toss the peach slices with the sugar, corn starch and nutmeg until well coated. Reserve the flour to sprinkle over the bottom crust.

TIP: The filling gets pretty juicy after you toss the peaches with the sugar. There’s no need to drain the extra liquid, though, as the corn starch will thicken all those juices into a lovely, gooey filling, as long as you bake your pie for long enough.

Assemble.

• Preheat the oven to 375, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• On a well-floured surface, roll out half the dough into a circle, about 1/8 inch thick, using a bench scraper and additional flour as needed, to loosen the dough from the counter. Fit the dough into a deep-dish pie pan and trim the edge so there’s about 1 inch of dough hanging over the edge of the pan.
• Sprinkle the 1 tablespoon of flour over the bottom crust (to prevent a soggy crust), and pour the peach filling, including all the juices, into the crust.
• Roll out the other half of the dough into a circle, about 1/8 inch thick, using a bench scraper and additional flour as needed, to loosen the dough from the counter. You can either lay the crust over the top of the peaches, and cut a few slits to vent the steam, or cut into strips and arrange in a lattice design over the peaches. Gather up the scraps and re-roll to get all your lattice strips cut. Trim the edges of the lattice strips, then fold the edge of the bottom crust up and over, crimping it to make it look pretty (Images 1 & 2).
• Brush the top of the dough with the reserved egg white. If you like, sprinkle with 1-2 teaspoons extra granulated sugar for a sparkly finish.

Bake.

• Set the pan on the baking sheet. Bake on the center oven rack for about 90 minutes, until the juices are thick and bubbly in the center of the pie and bubbling over the edges. After about 30 minutes of baking, check to see if you need to cover the edges of the crust with a pie crust shield or strips of foil. After about 45-60 minutes of baking, once the top of the lattice crust is cooked through and golden brown, lay a piece of foil over the top to keep it from over-browning.
• Let the pie cool at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours. You can slice the pie while it’s still warm, although it may be a bit messy. The filling will fully set after about 10-12 hours.

TIP: A browned crust on top does NOT mean the pie is done. You need to bake it until the juices in the middle are thick, with slow bubbles coming to the surface. This indicates that the corn starch has been activated and has properly thickened your pie filling, which can take the full 90 minutes.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

Will this recipe work with store bought pie crust?

Of course. Make this recipe exactly as instructed if using pre-made dough.

Can I use shortening instead of butter in the pie dough?

Butter has the best flavor for pie dough, but shortening has a reputation for making flakier crusts. Personally, I only use butter, and my crusts are always very flaky. You can certainly substitute an equal amount of shortening for the butter, if you prefer.

Should I use fresh, frozen or canned peaches?

Use fresh peaches when they’re in season, or frozen and thawed peaches if you’re not able to get fresh. Canned peaches would be a last resort for me. Be sure to drain and rinse canned peaches to rid them of excess syrup.

Do I need to peel fresh peaches?

This comes down to personal preference. I love eating fresh peaches with the skin, but find the texture to be unpleasant in a pie, so I always recommend peeling them first. It’s not difficult to peel them with a paring knife or vegetable peeler, but when working with a large amount of peaches, you should blanch them to remove the skin. Simply dip the whole, uncut peaches into boiling water for 45-60 seconds. Let cool for a couple of minutes, then easily slip off the peels.

How do I keep the sliced peaches from turning brown?

Don’t set frozen peaches out to thaw until a few hours before you’ll be using them. Once thawed, and exposed to air, they will start to turn brown if not baked right away. The same goes for fresh peaches. Don’t peel and slice them until you’re ready to make your filling and bake your pie. If needed, you can toss the sliced peaches with a tablespoon of lemon juice to help prevent browning.

Should I use free-stone peaches?

Free-stone peaches are certainly easier to cut into even slices, since the pit easily releases from the peach. If you can’t get the pit out cleanly, just slice the peach off the pit, and cut into large chunks for your pie filling.

Can I use tapioca or flour instead of corn starch?

There are so many ways to thicken pie filling, and corn starch is my preferred thickener, as it has the best flavor, texture and appearance. I really dislike tapioca, as it gives the pie filling an odd flavor and a weird, gummy texture. Flour is perfectly fine, but isn’t as effective as corn starch, so you’ll need to use more, up to twice as much flour as corn starch. Use what you like and trust.

How do I know when my pie is done?

A browned crust on top does NOT mean the pie is done. You need to bake your pie until the juices in the middle are thick, with slow bubbles coming to the surface. This indicates that the corn starch has been activated and has properly thickened your pie filling, which can take the full 90 minutes.

Why is my peach pie filling runny?

Either you didn’t bake your pie long enough to activate the thickener, or you didn’t use enough thickening agent.

How do you prevent a soggy bottom pie crust?

Sprinkling a tablespoon of flour over the bottom crust, before pouring in your pie filling, can help to eliminate the dreaded soggy bottom. Also, making sure you bake your pie long enough to thicken the filling will keep the crust from getting soggy against a filling that’s too runny.

How long should I let my pie cool before cutting it?

Ideally, wait at least 2-3 hours to let the filling set up, although it will not be fully set for about 10-12 hours. In this post’s photographed pie, I let the pie cool for about 2 1/2 hours (1 hour at room temperature + 1 1/2 hours in the refrigerator to speed up the cooling so I could cut and photograph it). You can see that the filling is set, but still warm and soft, whereas if you wait a few hours longer, you’ll get cleaner slices.

How long does this pie stay fresh?

Homemade fruit pies are best eaten within 1-2 days. The crust will be the most crisp and flaky within the first 24 hours, after which it starts to soften a little as it absorbs moisture from the filling.

What should I serve with my pie?

Fresh whipped cream is always a favorite, of course. And if you’ve never drizzled a warm slice of peach pie with salted caramel sauce, you’re missing out! Ice cream is fantastic, and I topped ours with homemade cinnamon ice cream.

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