Denver Pie Company ★ 4.3
Denver Pie Company in Denver is the Yale Avenue family bakery, a 1995 pie counter with seasonal fruit fillings and a long-running Thanksgiving rush.
Worth the queue: Sour cream apple pie
History
Palisade peaches arrived in the Grand Valley of western Colorado in the 1880s and grew into the state's signature fruit by the 1920s. Denver bakeries source from August to early September, when the Palisade Peach Festival draws weekend crowds to the orchards. The Denver pie tradition runs through Denver Pie Company on Sheridan and Rebel Bread; the Palisade peach is the canonical August pie filling here and a fixture on every Front Range farmers market table.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy
Make it at home
Ingredients
- For the crust: 350g all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 230g cold unsalted butter cubed, 120ml ice water
- For the filling: 1.2kg ripe Palisade or Colorado peaches, peeled and sliced
- 150g granulated sugar (less if peaches are very sweet)
- 30g cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cream (for wash)
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
Method
- Make crust: pulse flour, salt and sugar. Add butter, pulse until pea-size pieces. Drizzle in water; pulse until dough holds when pinched. Divide in two, flatten into disks, chill 90 minutes.
- Peel peaches: score an X on the bottom, dip in boiling water 30 seconds, then ice water. Slip skins. Slice into 1cm wedges.
- Toss peaches with sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, cinnamon, almond extract and salt. Let macerate 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Roll one disk to fit a 23cm pie dish. Fill with peaches and their juices.
- Roll second disk; cut into 2cm strips for a lattice. Weave the lattice; crimp edges. Brush with egg wash; scatter turbinado sugar.
- Bake 25 minutes at 200C. Lower to 175C (350F); bake another 50 to 60 minutes until juices bubble thickly through the lattice. Cool 3 hours before slicing.
Tip from the editors. Resist slicing while warm. Pie needs 3 hours at room temperature for the cornstarch to gel; a hot cut gives you peach soup.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Where to eat palisade peach pie
Palisade peach pie in Denver
Rebel Bread ★ 4.7
Rebel Bread in Denver is Zach Martinucci's South Broadway sourdough bakery, milling Colorado wheat and selling at farmers markets across the Front Range.
Worth the queue: Country sourdough loaf
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