We've gone through our false spring here in Northern California, back to our "partly cloudy" skies that ready us for our season of rain (my favorite). No matter what, there are always good apples for Pi Day on the 14th!
What is Pi Day, you might ask? It is gaining popularity now that social media is around, but you may or may not be familiar with the irrational number Pi (π ), a mathematical constant primarily (math joke!) used as the equivalent of the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It is a never ending number and it's fantastic. It's typically shortened to a value of 3.14. Hence, the 14th day of the third month of the year is Pi Day!
How can you celebrate Pi Day? You can participate in Pi recitation contests, to see who can correctly name the most digits of Pi. You can put an emphasis on circles! Hit folks at your place of work with some fun math jokes. Include Pi in your daily routine--jog 3.14 miles, read for 3.14 hours (if you're like me), etc. You could be super specific and celebrate on 3/14 at 1:59pm (since those are the next three places of Pi). Learn a Pi song! Eat all the circular food you can get your hands on! All of these are acceptable ways to celebrate Pi Day, but the best way is to eat as much pie as possible.
At least in my opinion. I have been told I make a mean apple pie, but that's not the recipe I'm sharing with you all today. Sorry. I have something way more special, though!
I recently finished reading an amazing novel by Louise Miller. I have followed Louise Miller on social media for years now, as I tend to for bakers and authors. However, it took me an embarrassingly long time to sit down with her debut novel, City Baker's Guide to Country Living.
Seriously, folks. Pick up this book as soon as possible. Miller writes about Olivia, a Boston pastry chef who accidentally sets her workplace on fire. Brilliant beginning, right? She seeks refuge in small town Guthrie, Vermont, where her best friend Hannah lives, while she and her wounded ego recover from the incident. There she and her incredible dog Salty find work at the Sugar Maple Inn, in the employ of notoriously grumpy and contrary Margaret Hurley. Olivia soon finds that she has something extremely valuable to Margaret--the formula for a possibly blue ribbon award-winning apple pie.
The novel follows Livvy and her time as a big city pastry chef in a small country town. There she finds more than refuge, but a true home. Louise Miller thus teaches readers that life doesn't always turn out the way one thinks. Our choices determine our own happiness, and with simplicity brings joy.
Louise Miller brings her characters to life with sharp wit, realistic complexity, and more hope than I personally was ever expecting. Miller is a genius when it comes to exposition and description of food. You can almost feel the warmth of the old Sugar Maple Inn, air thick with cinnamon and butter, oozing of coziness. And why wouldn't she be brilliant at these descriptions? She's a baker who can turn a recipe into a feeling. That's what makes her such a deep author. That's what makes this book so much more than "just a good story".
If the book itself isn't enough, Miller gifts us with the famed apple pie recipe in the back of the book. That, my friends, is the recipe I will be sharing with you all today.
I highly encourage folks to read the book and bake the pie, in that order. Since the pie is so important in the story, it becomes more significant to recreate it yourself. Of course, that's just my suggestion. You folks can do whatever your pretty little hearts desire.
This recipe is copied word-for-word out of the book City Baker's Guide to Country Living. The pictures and captions are mine. I asked Ms. Miller specifically for permission to share this recipe for everyone's enjoyment, but please pick up the book, too! I promise it will be worth it--for Pi Day, and every time you're craving a perfect apple pie.
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| Heads up, I didn't get enough apples for this pie. Be sure to get enough for 4 pounds! |
Blue Ribbon Apple Pie
Double Crust Pie DoughIngredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 tbsp. vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
6 (or more!) tbsp. ice water
Instructions:
1. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, salt, butter, and vegetable shortening until the mixture is golden and resembles coarse cornmeal.
2. Pour the flour mixture into a large bowl. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time, lightly fluffing the mixture with your fingers. Add ice water until the dough just begins to come together. (I always mix the water by hand so I have more control.) If you are not sure, try squeezing a little of the dough together in your hand. If it clumps, you are done.
3. Gather the dough into a ball, divide it into two pieces, then flatten the pieces into discs. Wrap the discs in plastic and put them in the refrigerator to rest for at least 1 hour.
4. Roll out the two pieces of pie dough. There are two main tricks to rolling out pie dough: One is to not use too much flour--you can always add a bit more if the dough is sticking to the table, but you can't take it away. The other is to never roll the dough out using a back-and-forth motion. Always work from the center and roll out. That will keep you from working the gluten too much. Use one dough disc to line a 9" deep-dish pie pan. Place the second rolled-out dough on a cookie sheet. Place both discs back in the refrigerator to rest.
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| If it's not a perfect circle, that's okay. |
Ingredients:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch thick wedges (I like to use a mixture of mostly Cortland and McIntosh apples, with 1 or 2 Granny Smith thrown in for tartness and texture)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg white, for the crust bottom
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400⁰ F. Make sure there is enough room for a tall pie--you may need to remove a rack.
2. Remove the dough discs from the refrigerator and set aside.
3. In a large skillet, melt the butter. When the butter is sizzling, toss in the apples and stir so they are coated in the butter. Cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. If you do not have a pan large enough, you can do this in two batches.
4. Remove the apples from the skillet (but not the liquid from the pan) and put them in a large bowl. Toss the apples in the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
5. Brush the inside of the bottom crust with the beaten egg white. Pile the sautéed apples into the crust, then cover with the remaining dough disc. Trim the crusts, then pinch them together. Using your thumbs and index fingers, crimp the crust edge into a pretty pattern. Slice air vents into the top crust. I like to leave my crusts plain, but you can brush the crust with an egg wash (if you like it shiny) or milk (if you like it brown and soft).
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| Pretty pile of apples! |
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| If you get the proper amount of apples, you won't have as much crust. |
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| Ta daaaaaa! |
7. Let cool completely before serving.
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| We love a 'la mode in our house, but this pie is incredible on its own (also, forgive my imperfect quenelle...) |
Have a positively pleasant Pi Day!
Thank you for reading, as always. You folks are the best!
Happy baking and reading,
~Red
