apple pie – Town Bakes

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.

Yes, I’m starting off with a gratuitous Dynamo Donuts shot. Go ahead. Be jealous. The lineup on a recent Saturday morning included pumpkin chocolate chip, meyer lemon-huckleberry (the pink one), an apple fritter, and the much-talked-about bacon-maple-apple.

But back to the topic at hand. My company’s bakesale is next week and there are serious things to consider. Really. Serious. Things. I spent maybe an hour (hours) a few weeks ago drooling over recipes at the National Baking Society blog, which I linked to as a follower of Matt Lewis of Baked in Brooklyn, NY. His cakes make my heart soar.

So the question is, do I make these…or this. A bundt cake that is a genuine hallmark of the ’80s, or a crispy dessert bar that is the holy trinity of sweet flavors — caramel, chocolate, peanut butter. I know, life is hard when the biggest dilemma is what treat to make next. I blame Lady Holiday for turning my head, so all I want to do is bake cookies, make mulled wine, and dive into a series of crafty projects, but it seems I can hardly find time to stop and smell the pine trees — this little guy in particular.

While that decision is set to simmer, I’m also going to revisit the apple slab pie I made for Thanksgiving this year. A creation looking like a giant pop tart (if we’re being honest), but the spices added to the filling are right on in my book — a little heavy on the cinnamon, which I love. And while the dough is difficult to roll out in such large scale, it’s worth the effort and satisfying to have LOTS of leftover pie to go around. Because who doesn’t want leftover pie? Right?

If you look closely, you’ll see I had to patch/mend the bottom corner of the crust as my rolling technique was not spot on. If this happens to you too, not to worry — all looks and tastes fine in the end.