Peachy Pie

Well, since I have a midterm coming up, what better things to do than to make peach pie?
Very little, that's what.
I followed the recipe from the Pie and Pastry Bible, making the cream cheese pie crust with just a smidge more water to account for the dryness up here. Since I was under time constraints, that meant that there had to be some speedbumps.
First of all, I pulled out the trusty food processor for the crust pulsing and realized that though the machine ran, the blade wasn't spinning. Figured out that the belt had somehow come off during the move (way better than having the belt break!) and I was able to open up the machine and get things fixed up.
Second of all, I didn't have quite enough peaches so I made a quick run to the farmer's market this morning to get a few more to fill out the pie.
I've been experimenting with pastry flours, having made a crust for a sour cherry pie (I think) this summer with whole wheat pastry flour. It was too graham-ey though and definitely not flaky - a very sandy texture which I don't care for. This time, I did half whole wheat pastry and half AP which seemed to turn out well - somewhat flaky, but not as much as usual. Maybe if I used shortening rather than butter it would be flakier? Any ideas? I like the idea of using whole wheat flour - it is more nutritious after all.
At any rate, this pie recipe is great for altitude because there's a lot more control on the filling having macerated the peaches then coating them with the cooked down syrup, but it also tacks on more time. I also threw in some ginger powder as seasoning. It's hard to adjust to a new kitchen: though I brought over all my spices and baking supplies, I didn't bring cornstarch (an Asian staple!) and there was none to be found at the house so I used some flour instead. It seemed to work fine. I need to figure out baking temperatures etc up here as well to keep from overbrowning the crust while cooking the filling.
If you notice below, I tried to cut out time by not trimming the top crust too much (I did have to get to frisbee at 1 after all) and so there is quite a bit of crust - almost like a deep dish pizza! It's yummy. I'm pretty pleased with how the crimping went - looks pretty decent? That's usually where I mess things up in pie making. Unfortunately, I rushed in the slashing process and didn't get the vents centered. Oh well - still tasty! It was a nice treat after getting back from the games and the gym this evening. Mmmm. (Liz, I wish I could FedEx a piece over to you!)

Games were a little rough today - a little short on folks and both games got off to slow starts, unfortunately. That was a bummer. Still, free post-game beer sure takes the sting away!
The Bears aren't doing so well right tonight. That's an understatement. At some point, they should figure out some sort of effective offensive strategy...too bad about all the new injuries.