The Best Peach Pie Ever
Nick Johnson

Based on two recipes:
	Betty Crocker Pie and Pastry Cookbook 1968 edition
	Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
Plus a lot of my own tweaks.

16 Medium peaches, peeled, quartered and sliced  (or 5 pounds of flash-frozen
peaches)
Lemon Juice
1.5 C sugar
0.5 C tapioca starch  [next time try 6tbsp starch, 2tbsp agar powder]
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Toasted, sliced almonds
2 oz dried, montmorency cherries (if you can only find sweetened
    ones, you can reduce the sugar just a little if you want).
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp spiced rum

Sift together dry ingredients - sugar, tapioca starch, cinnamon and salt.

In a flat-bottomed bowl large enough to hold all the cherries in one layer,
add the cherries, spread out one layer deep, and add the spiced rum. Set 
aside.

As you're peeling and quartering the peaches into a deep pot or dutch oven, 
splash on a little lemon juice and toss the peaches to mix it through. It'll
keep the peaches from oxidizing so quickly and add a little tart to the flavor.
(If you're using frozen peaches, thaw the peaches completely, wait for their
temperature to rise until they're cool but not cold, and splash on 1 Tbsp
of lemon juice with the almond extract in the next step.)

Once all the peaches are sliced, drain off the leftover liquid.  
Add the almond extract and cherries (it's fine if some rum comes along with
the cherries) and slowly blend in the dry ingredients, mixing gently by hand 
from bottom to top to coat the mix as best you can.

If you used fresh peaches, cover and chill this blend for half an hour in the 
refrigerator.  Prepare two pie crusts in very lightly olive-oiled pans.  
Remove chilled mixture and mix from bottom to top a few more times; some of the 
juice will have settled and this blends the almond extract a bit more.  You 
might also simply wait until this time to add the almond extract to the liquid 
at the bottom of the pan and then mix it all together.

Scoop out the filling mixture by hand or with a slotted spoon so that the liquid
stays mostly in the bottom of the pan.  Divide evenly between two pie crusts.
Scoop up a little of the liquid (maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons or a big wooden spoon's
worth) for each pan and pour it over the top of the filling, spreading it around.

Put on the top crust, pinching the bottom and top crusts together.  Apply either
a pie shield or aluminum foil around the edges.

Preheat over to 400, 375 if using a convection oven.

Sprinkle sliced almonts on the top of the crust. Cut slits through the top crust 
every 1.5 inches or so.  Cut an "X" in the center of the crust so you can watch
for the middle to bubble during baking.

Bake for around 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Begin checking at 45 minutes for the top 
crust to be golden brown and for liquid to be bubbling up from the center.

Chill until cool, and then chill overnight in the refrigerator.