Pies for days…

November 4, 2015November 4, 2015Leave a comment

Have I mentioned yet that rather insane day-and-a-half I spent baking eight pies? Ah, yes. That happened. In preparation for Town Bakes being open for business, and being able to sell you pies (it’s really hard not to write in all capitals here because there is some genuine news in the making), for birthdays, parties, holidays, or any old reason that warrants pie (what the heck doesn’t warrant pie?), I practiced at a larger order as a one-woman operation, and boy, howdy, did I learn some things.

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It was a veritable storm of pie baking and production — a blur of shaping crust, peeling apples, making ganache and salty caramel sauce, toasting oats, cutting lattice strips, crimping and par-baking, and on and on it went for almost two days.

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The good news? Near the end of it all, at about 11 p.m. one night, I told Nick that I never wanted to bake again — that I was a baker no more — yet, what did I wake up and want to do the very next day? Bake three more pies, which, also happened. I’m taking that as a positive sign.

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Good lessons:

Rolling out dough while listening to music is a happy space. Assembly is my favorite part of making pie — shaping the crust, cutting and assembling lattice, scooping on crumble toppings; this is all very good. Looking at a gorgeous butter-laden pie, all golden and dressed up and ready for baking — then the smell of it baking, and the sight of fruit fillings bubbling — has got to be one of the best things on earth.

Not-so-happy lessons:

Refrigerator and freezer storage space is going to be a challenge. It’s lucky that we didn’t have much in the fridge that week, because I definitely needed most of that space for chilling dough and ingredients, and refrigerating cooked pies. Rental kitchens might be a necessary option as this venture gets rolling.

Also? My arms and hands were genuinely sore the next day. Baking strength is real, y’all.

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Many thanks to Nick’s family who requested an assortment of fall pies! This batch yielded two salty caramel apple, two old-fashioned apple with an oat crumble topping, two lemon chess (one sprinkled with lavender), and two black bottom oatmeal pies (picture pecan pie that substitutes oats for the pecans, also boasting a base layer of chocolate ganache).

A few more pics in the gallery below.

Buttermilk Blueberry Chess Pie

August 27, 2015August 27, 20152 Comments

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I’ve been telling one Mr. Loomis that it is already fall around these parts (it’s true), but he doesn’t like to hear that. It’s undeniable, however, the change in the air and the light. California is beyond crispy because of our enduring drought, so the leaves are not a good indicator at the moment of the subtle change in season. But there’s something that rolls around this time of year, so that I know in my heart summer is over and soon we’ll be pulling out an extra blanket for the bed or thinking of nothing else but apple pie.

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As some consolation, we dedicated last weekend to a final burst of summer activities, with a hike in the hills, grilling dinner on our tiny weber in the driveway, and baking a blueberry chess pie. This pie is also an indicator of the cusp of summer/fall times. Stone fruit has already turned well beyond its peak-of-season flavor, so I’m looking ahead to fall and winter fillings — chess pies with custard and buttermilk, fillings of apple or pear, pies of lemon and chocolate and pumpkin and walnut and oat, oh my. These are all worthy of excitement.

Given that I’m still getting the hang of timing re: custard fillings, this pie was almost perfect. And per my sentiments of past posts, we also know that perfection is overrated. I pulled this pie from the oven probably a few minutes too soon — or didn’t let it cool quite long enough (Hey, it’s hard to keep mitts off a freshly-baked pie), so the first few slices we enjoyed were not completely set. After a night in the refrigerator, however, the pie had set entirely by the next day.

Chess pies definitely require closer monitoring while they bake. Given the advice I’ve read in books by Four and Twenty Blackbirds and the Hoosier Mama Pie Company, bakers I respect immensely, you’re looking for the outer two inches of the filling to be puffed and set as an indicator of doneness, while the inner circle of the pie will still be wobbly when you remove it from the oven. The difference being that the center should be moving as a whole rather than a sea of liquid. Taking the pie out before it’s overcooked helps to avoid the filling splitting as it cools, and even in its wobbly state, the pie will continue to cook and set as it cools.

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An issue of practice being the best guide, I expect I’ll be able to better gauge the exact moment to pull the pie from the oven over time. And about the name? There are so many theories about why chess pie is called so, that’s a bit like: choose-your-own-adventure. The most common explanation, however, suggests that the term chess pie originated from “chest pie,” because these custard pies are made with so much sugar that they could be stored in a pie chest rather than in a refrigerator.

And the defining element of the filling? About a tablespoon of cornmeal which lends a pleasant bite and grittiness that I love.

In the meantime, I’ve pulled the sourdough starter from the fridge with a gleam in my eye for cinnamon-raisin bread, up next. Happy end-of-summer celebrations, gang. And some cute cats below, just because.

The Dog Days of Summer and a Peach Pie

August 3, 2015August 2, 20151 Comment

I just finished re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird in anticipation of reading Go Set A Watchman, Harper Lee’s new novel, which is ready and waiting on the coffee table. There’s huge controversy surrounding her latest book; some saying her lawyer pushed to have it published without her consent, and others saying it dampens the love or esteem for a much-cherished novel by lending a radically different perspective to the characters of the Finch family, as we encounter them 20 years later. I’m always in favor of actual human portraits, flaws and all, but we’ll see. I haven’t read it yet.

Crushing pink peppercorns for the filling

Regardless, Mockingbird is a hell-of-a-book, and a timely read given the headlines and news stories plaguing our country of late. Scout’s earnestness and honesty, the actions and thoughts of a young person who hasn’t yet been molded by the prejudices surrounding her, is a joy.

And after spending a week in the homes and settings of the fictitious Maycomb, Alabama, I’ve had nothing but lane cake, divinity, and peach pie on my mind.

Scoring the lattice to create a textured effect

This luscious summer pie with a lattice medallion is laced with brown sugar, almond extract, pink peppercorn, and lemon. When I pulled it out of the oven, it was positively blushing at me. I haven’t made a purely-peach pie since last summer, and I’d forgotten how perfect the texture of peaches are in a pie. Plump and silky, every bite as fragrant as a garden.

Most of the recipes I’ve read for peach pie call for blanching the fruit and peeling the peaches; I never do this, and find the results just as successful and the peach skin: not noticeable. I’d be happy for any additional thoughts in this arena; to peel or not to peel?

Mixed-Berry Sunken Lattice Pie

July 28, 2015July 28, 20151 Comment

This pie was part of our Fourth of July haul. Instagram taunted me for weeks with all of the food bloggers and bakers getting a head-start, letting the world know what they’d be whipping up for the Fourth of July. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re me and want to bake and cook and grill every single thing that looks yummy. No-campfire s’mores? Sure! An apricot gallete? Sure! Corn and souvlaki on the grill? You bet! If only that whole “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” notion actually worked.

With friends hosting a barbecue and covering the grilling portion of the evening, we settled on some baked goods to supplement. Nick baked another round of pretzels — the real deal, dipped in lye. He gets a better result each time and these were perfectly crisp and golden and salty, just as they should be.

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I made a mixed berry pie — strawberry, blueberry, and a bit of nectarine — with a lattice top. My baking feathers puffed with pride that there was only one little lonely slice of pie left when we were leaving the barbecue that night.

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It was difficult to keep our hands off of this one.

Next on my list is a traditional peach pie, because summer is already rolling towards fall and it wouldn’t be the season without at least one lovely peach pie — all of those golden wedges slumping into buttery perfection.

Oh, and those no-campfire s’mores? We absolutely made them. See the recipe for inspiration.

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Peanut Butter-Cherry Hand Pies

June 24, 2015June 30, 20153 Comments

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I have nothing but respect for the makers and bakers of hand pie. Truly. Respect. I have only attempted hand-pies a few times because my previous experiences with them were a mess. And baking messes, when I have them, result in waves of cursing in the kitchen, which my poor partner patiently endures and then waits the appropriate, oh, ten minutes or so, before gently asking if he can help. This is also the reason why slab pie has been banned from our home — at least for a few more months.

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Given the history of hand pies in our kitchen, including one batch that was accidentally made with gluten-free flour, I have a bit of a complex about them now. I start out with a fear that it’s going to be a trial baking them, and then my hands feel giant and unequipped to deal with pint-size pies, so I usually give the whole process a few minutes of thought before deciding to make a standard-size pie for the masses.

Ok. All that said. I received an incredibly generous tool months ago from Bee Loomis, intended for dumplings, I think? Or empanadas? But knowing my love for pie she recognized the potential that it would work equally well for hand-held pie. As a side note, Bee is secretly a master of pie, but she sweetly and modestly won’t fess up to it in person. I was, however, lucky enough to taste one of her cherry pies last fall in Kansas.

Never being one to quiver in the face of a challenge for long, and because I’m also feeling ready to dive whole-heartedly into pie-practice again — it’s stone fruit season and SUMMER in the bay area — I decided to give peanut butter-cherry hand pies a whirl, and, you guys, breathe easy, they taste amazing.

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Ready to be folded and crimped in one easy motion!

They don’t look amazing . . . yet. This is part of pie practice. They look like, I dunno, sad, sad empanadas. But the process was transformed thanks to my new tool and pretty darn pleasant. So there’s only room for the finished product to improve.

If imperfect pie happens to you, too, I invite you to subscribe to my pie theory, which is — imperfection is actually the guise of perfection. Even if a pie doesn’t look super, if you haven’t overworked your dough and the filling is not wrong (like the bourbon-pumpkin pie I made one Thanksgiving that was inexplicably terrible), it will ALWAYS taste amazing. Ok, nine times out of ten. Even if the crust cracks or the filling overflows the pie shell, serve it to your friends, your family, and I bet they’ll be happy. And when it’s sliced up and on a plate, no one will know the difference.

This is a warm and nostalgia-inducing take on the classic PB&J sandwich, in pie form. Peanut butter-cherry hand pies would also be delicious by swapping out the cherries for your favorite jam or jelly.

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Pie dough:

Your favorite recipe for a double-crust pie, or, my favorite:

2 ½ cups all-purpose or pastry flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tbsp. Granulated sugar

1 tsp. Kosher or table salt

2 sticks unsalted butter

½ cup ice water

Filling:

1 cup all-natural peanut butter — creamy or nutty, your choice

1 ½ cups fresh cherries, halved and tossed with 1-2 tbs. sugar

Notes:

— An egg wash around the edges of each circle of dough helps the pies seal together when assembling. For the egg wash, I used 1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp. cold water.
— If you’re using jam instead of a fresh fruit filling, ¾ cup to 1 cup of jam should be plenty.

Bake at 375˚F on parchment-lined baking sheets for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.