The Clash Peach Pie
Posted on September 08 2016
A special request from a friend who turned me on to the whole "square pie/album cover thing": London Calling, by the Clash (in peach.) I wasn't sure what spices went with peach so rather than using the stencil to create lines of powder this time, I used it to create cutouts that would reveal the filling underneath. The lettering worked out quite well, but I think I may have been pushing things a bit much with the main figure... Cut pie dough can only retain edge fidelity with a thickness of 3 mm or so, beyond that you run the risk of detail getting obscured by the transfer and baking process. Still! Was a fun pie to do and all things considered I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Here's how I did it...
Time to create:
- half hour to create stencil
- half hour to cut out dough design and assemble pie
- 45 min to bake
Ingredients:
- 1 pillsbury roll out pie crust (or your own dough)
- 1 cup peach jam
- 1 ripe peach
- 1 egg white
Supplies:
- computer
- parchment paper
- cutting surface
- exacto knife to cut stencil
- sharp knife to cut dough
- square brownie pan
- container and brush for egg white
Step 1 - Select an album cover and create the template
If you want to do yourself a favour, select an album cover with one big bold central image with high contrast. My Prince album cover pie is a good example of this too.
In photoshop, size the file to match your brownie pan (in my case 8" x 8"), crank up the contrast with adjust -> threshold, and then diddle (technical graphic design term) until you are happy with the look. Join up any "islands" (areas of white floating in the black) unless you want to do some extra work of cutting these out by hand on your pie later.
Step 2 - Prep the parchment stencil
You can save some paper and printer ink (and time) by tracing directly off your screen. If you do this, use a dull pencil and don't press too hard to protect your screen. Start by making corner registration marks so you can adjust your paper back into position easily if it slips while you are tracing.
Once you've traced your outlines, cut out the shapes with a sharp exacto/mat knife on a cutting board. Make sure your parchment paper curls down, not up away from the cutting board or you'll have problems sticking it to your dough.
Step 3 - "Glue" the stencil on your chilled dough and cut out the shapes
Take your chilled dough out of the fridge, roll it out on a verrrry well floured work surface, and cut it into a 8" x 8" square (or whatever your pan size is).
"Glue" your stencil down using egg whites and tap down with your finger.
Using a sharp knife, cut out the main shapes and set aside.
For the tiny lettering, poke guide holes at the top and bottom of each letter. Then remove the parchment and etch the tiny letters by hand.
Step 4 - Prep the bottom of the pie
Spray your pan with Pam and place two strips of parchment paper crisscrossing inside.
Flop in the rolled out dough and trim to about half an inch above the bottom. Poke vent holes with a fork or something.
Coat the bottom of the dough with peach jam, then add in thin peach slices.
In hindsight I should have coated the peach slices with another layer of jam to darken them up and make for a better contrast through the top layer holes, but live and learn!
Step 5 - Transfer your top design to the pie
If you've properly floured your work surface, you shouldn't have too much trouble transferring your top layer over. If you find it is sticking a bit, just get a bunch of butter knives or a metal spatula to help you lift it and place it on the pie bottom. If any of the shapes have shifted, gently nudge them back into place with your sharp knife.
Step 6 - Bake at 400 for 45 min
Preheat your oven with a cookie sheet already in it to give the bottom of your pie an extra boost and prevent the soggies. Place your pie on the cookie sheet and bake for about 45 min, or until golden brown with bubbling filling. But keep an eye on it, every oven is different!
Step 7 - Plate and serve!
Make sure it is compleeeeeetly cool before you try to lift it out of the pan. I got impatient and cracked it a bit (It's a problem I have, I'm working on it. That and opening the oven to peek.) When it is ready you can lift it out by the parchment handles, peel the paper off, and serve to your punk lovin' guests! It'll taste kind of like a big peach pop tart (but without the chemical aftertaste.)
If you liked this tutorial please let me know with a comment below and give us a tweet, pin, instagram, etc. (buttons below.) As always I love to hear your feedback, ideas for future pies, and if you take a stab at making this design or any other album cover, lemme know and I may feature you on my Ins-pie-ration blog!
Thanks for reading :)
π > ∞
Jessica (aka @ThePieous)
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