Good golly, peach pie

When was the last time I made a homemade peach pie?  I mean not cheating, with a lazy frozen crust or packaged mix. 

I have shelves of cookbooks, but always seem to go back to my old 1963 Betty Crocker for the basic stuff.  My mother gave me this book on my 17th birthday, and I taught myself how to cook with it over the years.

It's also full of 1950's era house-wifely advice, with tips on running an efficient kitchen and keeping a happy husband (with the help of pies, cakes and roast beef.)

Here's a pristine edition I found on the Internet...

And here's mine, falling apart at the seams, bespattered with thousands of meals and crammed with things like mom's handwritten recipe cards, funny cooking magazine clippings from the 70's and 80's, and Amanda's art work.  In short, a treasure. 

I like watching cooking shows on PBS, like "Martha Stewart Bakes" and "American Test Kitchens." It's fascinating how difficult and complicated they can make the simplest things, like pie crust.

Betty Crocker didn't fuss with stuff like that.

For two 8 inch pie crusts:

1/2 cup shortening (or butter)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Cold water to bind the dough

That's it. No food processor required. You can use a pastry cutter or fork to crumble the butter into the flour, but honestly I think it works better to use your hands, Julia Child style. As she would say, you can "get the feel" of the dough. Yes, there's a knack to pie crust, but it's something worth mastering, to call yourself a decent home cook. 

And oh my goodness, what a perfect summer dessert.