Summer Stone Fruit and Peach Sorbet

I was going to write about bread and how to make a sourdough starter this week. Then my bread was a miserable failure. What should have been a fluffy loaf turned emerged from the oven a heavy brick of crusty dough. Gross. I am pretty sure that my failed loaf could be directly attributed to weak yeast. Through shear laziness, I had neglected to feed my started for a few weeks, and when I removed it from the fridge it smelled like it was near death. I was ready to dump the inedible loaf in the garbage, but A wanted to suffer through a few slices. I am completely unwilling to waste calories on sub-par baked goods.

It was really hot this weekend. Normally I love baking bread, but the hot humid weather made my kitchen a nightmare. Seriously, it is not pleasant to work in a small room that contains a box pre-heated to 500 degrees. My failed loaf was just salt on the wound of an unpleasant cooking experience. The only answer to my  harmed ego (I consider myself to be a skilled amateur bread-baker) and the heat in my kitchen was peach sorbet. Yes, I know, this makes two frozen dessert postings in a row. Hopefully I can diversify some in the coming weeks.

Peaches are one of my favorite summer fruits. It is sort of disgusting, but I can eat up to four in a sitting if I have them on hand. Imagine my excitement upon finding ripe peaches for less than $2 a pound at my grocery store. Stone fruit season had started. I bought almost four pounds - enough to make a batch of sorbet and have something leftover for snacking later. 

So you know how last week I said that ice cream was easy? Well... sorbet is even easier. All you need is your favorite fruit, fresh and ripe, and some simple syrup. Sorbet is a staple in our household during the summer, as everything from berries to melon is cheap and plentiful. It is also refreshing in the heat and healthy, other than the added sugar. I suppose that you could omit the sugar if you are on a low carb diet, but it really does enhance the natural flavors of the fruit base. Freezing fruit dulls its flavor - the sugar in the simple syrup helps counteract this effect. 

Recipe after the jump!


Peach Sorbet
yield: a quart I guess? 


3 lbs of peaches
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
Juice from 1 lemon

Pit and peel all of the peaches. Puree them in a food processor.

In a small sauce pan over high heat, bring the sugar and the water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 3-4 minutes. Add the lemon juice. Allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes and then mix it into the peach puree.

Put the puree into the fridge to chill until ice cold. I usually just chill it overnight. Transfer it to an ice cream machine and churn according to the instructions for the machine.

Transfer the sorbet to an airtight container and cover with plastic wrap in a way that the plastic wrap touches the entire surface of the sorbet as if it were a skin. Freeze for about two hours, and then enjoy! That is all, really!