I want to talk about pie, the great American classic. It comes in many variations, some conventional like the cherry or apple pie, and others less well-known such as the pickle pie or the green tomato pie. This dessert is quite versatile and can easily be tailored to one’s dietary and baking preferences. If one wants a gluten free pie, a vegan pie, a nut-free pie, or a pie from the past, there are plenty of recipes out there to try. For me, I am quite new to pie baking, last summer I tried my hand at the smaller hand pies, blackberry ones to be exact. The blackberries were from my garden, and it took me the whole day to make my own pastry and enclose the filling inside the small crescent moon shaped crusts.
It was nice to have these single servings of pie, to just grab and enjoy, with no mess or fuss, but it took what seemed like an eternity to make and assemble all of the elements for the hand pies. Recently I have been thinking that one pie would be easier to make, so I want to try to create bigger pies. But, I can’t pick which type of pie to start with, there are too many choices. So, what if I just try to make all the pies that interest me? And since I’m interested in many types of pie, I could make one pie a month. So, think pie of the month club (yes it exists), but instead of the pies being sent to me, I will just make my own to share with my family and friends.
Before I go into which pies I plan on making, I have a confession to make. To be honest, I don’t think I have ever had a good store-bought or restaurant pie–except maybe one–which was a strawberry-rhubarb pie purchased from a bakery on a small farm. Now that pie was good! You see, the thing about the non-homemade pies I’ve had in the past, is that they were far too sweet for my taste. When I eat a pie, I want the butter in the pastry to melt in my mouth, I want to be delighted by the richness or tanginess of the filling. Not smacked in the face by sugar, sugar and just one more dash of sugar. And yes, this may seem a bit dramatic, but this is nothing compared to what I have witnessed while watching Season 1, episode 5 of The Great British Bake Show: The Beginnings. In this episode, the bakers were asked to make American pies and in the span of about five minutes, our nation’s beloved pies were criticized about five times.
My favorite quote is one of Paul Hollywood’s, a famous baker and one of the judges on the show,asserts, “…for me, to make a good American pie, you almost have to make it British.”. His reasoning? American pies are too sweet. And for the most part, I have to agree with him, no matter how dramatic his statement comes across as. This is why I am dedicated to making my own pies, to my fellow pie lovers, the key to success is King Arthur Flour. Seriously, King Arthur rules. Their flour is amazing, because I can control the level of sweetness in my desserts.
Now for the recipes, an all around solid recipe source, and the one I recommend to anyone who is their boxed gluten-free fudge brownies. Their recipes are magical, particularly their carrot cake recipe. It’s heavenly! I also recommend their website because I think it has a good selection of gluten-free bakes and a pretty decent list of vegan recipes, and desserts, if you are interested in those types of recipes.These are the types of pies that I plan on making for the rest of the year:
- September: Apple pie with lattice
Ah, the classic American pie! Apples are now in season and this type of pie just lends itself to a lattice crust, a technique I have been itching to try.
- October: Gluten free chocolate, peanut butter pie
I want to give this pie to my friend for her birthday. I always give her Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but now I can essentially give her a giant one. The best part is that it will be gluten free for her. Also, I think the richness of the flavors lends itself to an indulgent fall treat.
- November: Pumpkin pie with maple leaf pastry decorations
My mom usually makes pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and now this year I can make it with her. Also, I would love to try to make little maple leaves out of pastry to put on the edges of the pie for decoration, and possibly a pastry turkey in the middle of the pie (permitting the pastry Gods will smile upon me that day).
- December: Blueberry pie
Lastly, I want to make this pie for my sister because she has a December birthday and she loves anything blueberry, especially pie. As a side note, I do realize that the blueberries I want to use for my December pie will not be in season. I plan to use frozen ones which in my experience, have still been pretty tasty. I also want to try to make little pastry paw prints as decorations because probably the only other thing she loves more than blueberries, is her Samoyed, and the paw prints should be cute too.
Overall, I am looking forward to challenging, and hopefully improving my baking skills. And if all fares well, perhaps I will carry on with this monthly pie making into the New Year, and maybe you will be inspired to bake your own favorite treats, or test out some new ones, either way, happy baking!
Sources:
Need some pie inspiration? Check out these cool websites:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/pie My go-to recipe site (I highly recommend)
https://www.lokokitchen.com/ Website of amazing pie artist