Peach & thyme summer crown

Building blocks of a summer day: morning coffee outside; the chirping of birds; maybe a frog or two; skin warmed up by sunshine; flowers; time spent with four-legged people; peaches, peaches, peaches.

To celebrate summer’s sunshine and the blossoming of peach season, I’m popping in your inbox today to share a recipe that crowns all those things. Shaped like a sun, or a crown, this is a presentation twist on a classical pie and a fun shape to experiment with if you’ve never tried it before. Honestly, you can turn most pie recipes into crowns, either sweet or savory. I’ve made a lip-smacking zucchini crown before, for example! It’s summer, the season of the sun and long days — why not bring some of that onto our tables, too?

Peach & thyme summer crown

(Makes one 28 cm (11 in) diameter crown)

ingredients

for the pastry

• 2 cups (240 g) flour (I used white flour)

• 6 tbsp (86 g) cold salted butter

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1/4 cup (60 ml) cold water

for the filling

• 6 ripe peaches

• 1/2 cup berries of choice (I used strawberries)

• a few sprigs of fresh thyme

• 2 tbsp honey

• 1/2 cup (60 g) cornstarch

for the egg wash (optional)

• 1 small egg

• 1/2 teaspoon cold water

Directions

• For the pastry, add the cold butter to the flour in a mixing bowl. Rub in well with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the honey and slowly add the cold water, combining well, until the pastry starts coming together into a ball.

• Cover the bowl containing the pastry with a cloth and let sit in a cold place while you prepare the filling.

• To make the filling, chop each peach in half, skin and all, remove the stone, slice into half-moons, and place in a mixing bowl. Add the berries, honey, and thyme leaves, and stir with a spoon to combine. Add the cornstarch and combine well, until no lumps remain.

• Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface into a circle, which doesn’t need to be perfect.

• Take a small round bowl, about 13 cm (5.1 in) in diameter, and place it, facing down, on the center of the pastry. Gently press it on the pastry, not to cut it, but simply to imprint a circle on it. Remove it. Now, using a knife, slice this inside circle into 8 similar-sized triangles. See the images below for reference. Transfer the pastry to a lined pie dish.

• Using a spoon, transfer the fruit onto the outer circle of the crown. As you scoop the fruit out of the bowl, leave the liquid that it has released behind (I saved it and some of the fruit to make popsicles, with added yogurt!)

• Lift each triangle across the fruit and gently press it onto the back of the crown to hold it in place.

• If you want to add an eggwash finish, beat the egg and small quantity of water together and brush onto the pastry.

• Bake in the oven at 180º ( 350º F), in the middle tray, for about 40 minutes or until golden.

I decorated our crown with edible garden flowers such as calendula (Calendula officinalis) and pansies (Viola tricolor), and we ate it with side of plain yogurt drizzled with honey. Summer joy on a plate!

I hope this recipe brings you as much joy as it brings me 🌞

If you bake a crown this summer, I’d love to hear what you’ll be filling it with!