Pie for Pi Day

Pie is defined as pretty much anything baked with a top and/or bottom pastry. This could cover nearly anything known to man or woman. Pi is defined as the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet ( Π, π) or the numeric value (3.14) or osmotic pressure (used to express the concentration of a solution.)

Pi Day is March 14, 2018 and is fast approaching. Pi Day is a celebration of mathematics! Frankly speaking, without mathematics, there would not be any recipes so lets celebrate Pi Day by making pie. That's right, Dear Readers, lets make pie for Pi Day!

I don't know about you but I am all about any excuse to make pie. I LOVE pie! Big ones, small ones, short ones, tall ones, thin ones, fat ones, sweet ones or savory ones...it doesn't matter to me! I love a homey chicken pot pie, made with a top crust only thank you. I take comfort in every savory bite! I love quiche in all its forms both with or without any meat but don't ever skim on the creamy custardy base. Any quiche is fit for any occasion so long as the custard base is rich and creamy. I love the way our home smells when I make a sweet yet slightly tart Grandma Mary apple pie in the Fall. I am excited to make a tart cherry pie for Easter dessert to celebrate my husband Russell's birthday. I am looking forward to fresh strawberry pie this summer. I love to fancy up the crust, as you see above (it's a hex sign) and I love to make a lattice crust too. It's fun to play with the crimping but an easy trick is to let the equipment help and us the pie dish as a guide. (Some home bakers have difficulty with crimping so this is a useful tip.)

No matter what your fancy may be, have fun with your pie. There are so many options for ready made pie doughs and crusts just use one of them if you find making homemade pie crust challenging. I will offer a few tips though: ALWAYS hold out some of the liquid in ANY pie crust recipe! ALWAYS have the fat (whether it is butter, shortening or lard) cold. ALWAYS use as little flour as possible to roll out the dough, in fact, roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper (baking paper.) ALWAYS roll the dough from the center out. NEVER "stretch" the pie dough into the dish but "fit" it into the dish. Follow these tips and you're good to go, I mean roll.

What are your favorite types of pie or are you like me, and love them all? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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