For us bakers, it’s never difficult to figure out how to celebrate Pi Day! The most important component of any halfway decent Pi Day celebration is pie. Pie is the obvious choice, not only because it shares a name with the popular number, but because of its traditional circular shape. There are infinite [...]]]>

For us bakers, it’s never difficult to figure out how to celebrate Pi Day! The most important component of any halfway decent Pi Day celebration is pie. Pie is the obvious choice, not only because it shares a name with the popular number, but because of its traditional circular shape. There are infinite (like pi!) ways to create a pi-themed pie. I’ve decided to forgo any circular pie references in favor of creating a custom shaped pi filled with tangy sweet blood orange curd.

Do you know how to calculate the area of this blood orange? Hint: you’ll have to use pi. But luckily, no complicated math is necessary to create your own custom pi pie bowls. You’ll just need a bit of patience, some aluminum foil, and a lot of pie dough.

First, shape two small cylinders out of aluminum foil. Then create a third cylinder with a wavy shape to complete the top. To join these three parts, cover them with a large sheet of foil and press it tightly around the form.

It wasn’t until I finished baking the crust that I realized my pi was backwards! You may want to make your mold in a mirror image so that when you flip the finished crust off the mold it will look just as you planned.

For more pi day deliciousness, make sure to check out the 2011 Pi Day baking contest. There are all kinds of pies that will inspire you to revisit your old math textbooks and brush up on your mathematical formulas! OK, so maybe you won’t go that far. But I’m sure you’ll be craving your very own pi(e)!

Blood Orange Curd Pi
Created by Simple Math Bakery
Yield: 2 pi-shaped pies (4-6 servings)

Blood Orange Curd
Adapted from Country Living
Yield: 4 cups (Lots more than you will need for the pie!)

5 eggs
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup blood orange juice (from about 4 blood oranges)
zest of 1 blood orange
1/4 cup lemon juice (I used the juice of 1 lemon)
1 cup (16 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, blood orange juice, zest, and lemon juice. Place the bowl over a saucepan with 1 inch of simmering water. This will allow the egg mixture to heat without cooking the eggs.

Heat the mixture, whisking every 3 or 4 minutes, until the temperature reaches 180 degrees (approximately 30 minutes). The curd will be thickened. Remove the bowl from the heat and add the butter pieces. Stir until the butter has melted and the curd is smooth.

Allow the curd to cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled.

To assemble the pie:
1 recipe pie dough
Custom pie crust molds (see instructions above)

Place the aluminum foil pie molds on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Roll out your pie dough until it is 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick. The thinner you roll it, the more difficult it will be to drape it over the mold without breaking. Cut the dough into 2 or 3 pieces, depending on the size of your molds. Carefully drape the pie dough over the molds and gently press the dough against the mold to ensure that it fits snugly into all the crevices. Trim the edges of the dough around the molds. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place the entire baking sheet in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Bake the crust for 13-15 minutes, or until the crust is just starting to brown. Flip the crust over and gently remove the foil from the inside of the mold. Bake for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until the crust is sturdy enough to hold its shape.

I tried two different variations of pi mold. The one with connected legs held up better than the one with disconnected legs. Keep stability in mind as you design your pie mold!

For the filling:
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup blood orange curd

Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes.

Gently fold in the blood orange curd with a large spoon or spatula.

Isn’t it a pretty color? Spoon the filling into the pie crust and garnish with fresh fruit. Enjoy while working on your memorization of pi digits!

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406…

There are still [...]]]> The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

There are still apples for sale at the local orchards, which means that they are still working their way into many of my baked goods. For this month’s challenge we were given the opportunity to choose the flavor of our crostata so I used one of my old favorite flavor combinations: apples and cranberries. I’ve always loved cranberry juice and all its varieties (straight-up cranberry, cran-raspberry, cran-grape, cran-apple, etc), though I don’t seem to drink it as often anymore. Cranberries just aren’t as popular in California as they are in Massachusetts, with all its cranberry bogs. But I can still find fresh cranberries at the store so there’s nothing to stop me from baking with them!

I love the look of a traditional crostata with fruit preserves, so I set out to create cranberry apple jam to fill my crostata. Armed with a special blend of three apple varieties (Spartan, Pippin, and Barkley Rome) recommended by the experts at the orchard, I started coring and chopping.

As I boiled the fruit, I realized that the resulting jam would be very similar to applesauce. I pondered the difference between jam, preserves, jelly, and applesauce for a while before deciding that the name really wasn’t of importance. Cranberry applesauce sounds just as good as cranberry apple preserves, especially when baked into an Italian tart crust. The crust came out buttery and flaky, the perfect complement to the sweetened apples and cranberries. I will definitely make crostata again!

The November 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Cranberry Apple Crostata
Yield: One 9″ crostata

For the pasta frolla (pastry dough):
Scant 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 egg and 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt. Add the butter pieces, and use a pastry blender or your hands to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. Do not overwork the mixture, it should resemble coarse crumbs with visible chunks of butter.

Turn the mixture out onto a clean countertop or other work surface and make a well in the center. Reserve about 1 teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing and pour the rest of the eggs into the well. Use a fork and your fingers to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Mix just until the dough comes together, forming into a ball. Flatten the ball into a disc shape, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You may leave the dough in the fridge overnight, if you wish.

For the cranberry apple preserves (cranberry applesauce):
Yield: about 4 cups

1/2 pound fresh cranberries
2 1/2 pounds apples, cored and chopped (I used a mixture of Spartan, Pippin, and Barkley Rome)
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup water
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Combine all of the ingredients in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use a potato masher to mash any chunks of apples, then continue to simmer, covered, for another 10-15 minutes.

Working in batches, sieve the preserves to remove the apple skins. Allow to cool to room temperature, then store in an airtight container in the fridge.

To assemble the crostata:
Pasta Frolla dough, above
1 3/4 cups cranberry applesauce, above

Preheat the oven to 375°. Have a 9″ tart pan or cake pan at the ready. Remove the pasta frolla from the fridge, and reserve 1/4 of the dough to create the lattice top.

To facilitate easier rolling of the dough and transfer to the pan, keep the dough on the plastic wrap as you roll it out. Otherwise, roll it out on a floured work surface. Roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8″.

Carefully transfer the dough to the pan. If you’ve rolled the dough on the plastic wrap you’ll be able to flip it over right into the pan. Gently press the dough into the bottom corners of the pan. Trim the excess dough from the edges of the pan. If you are using a cake pan, you’ll want to trim the dough below the top edge of the pan since the crostata should not be very deep. Press the extra dough around the sides of the pan so that the edges are slightly thicker than the bottom, making sure that all the edges are of uniform thickness.

Prick the dough on the bottom with a fork in several places. Be careful not to go all the way through or you might have fruit leaking out the bottom!

Roll out the reserved pasta frolla and cut it into strips or shapes of your choosing. Spread the cranberry applesauce over the dough in the pan and use the strips to create a lattice pattern over the top of the fruit.

Brush the exposed pasta frolla dough with the reserved egg mixture. Add a bit of water if you don’t have enough egg mixture.

Bake the crostata for 25-35 minutes. The crostata is done when the dough becomes a deep golden hue. Place the crostata on a cooling rack to cool completely before removing from the pan and serving.

Black cat, cross my path – good fortune bring to home and hearth. When I am away from home, bring me luck wherever I roam. -British Proverb

I’ve got this black cat who simply adores pumpkin. Whenever a container of pumpkin is cracked open, he will come running from near or far, nose [...]]]>

Black cat, cross my path – good fortune bring to home and hearth. When I am away from home, bring me luck wherever I roam.
-British Proverb

I’ve got this black cat who simply adores pumpkin. Whenever a container of pumpkin is cracked open, he will come running from near or far, nose sniffing the air to determine the location of his favorite treat. He certainly crossed my path a few times while I put together this pie, ready to mop up any stray dollops of pumpkin puree.

Depending on local culture, black cats can be seen as harbingers of good or bad luck. In North America, the black cat has become an icon for witchcraft and Halloween, frequently with a negative connotation. Sadly, this prevents many people from adopting black cats. My cat doesn’t have a shred of evil in his body, but he still volunteered to promote my Halloween pie. I couldn’t keep him out of the photos. Perhaps black cats should be Halloween icons because they love to eat pumpkin!

Making the filling for this pie is a snap. Measure all the ingredients into the blender, and with the touch of a button you’ve got your filling.

Roll out the crust, pour in the filling, garnish with a few little pumpkins, and pop it in the oven!

Before the recipe, I’d like to throw in a little self-promotion. Voting has opened for challenge #4 of Project Food Blog, which I am thrilled to be a part of. Check out my entry and if it tickles your fancy, cast a vote. I am grateful for your support!

Maple Pumpkin Pie
Created by Simple Math Bakery
Yield: One 9″ pie

1 pie crust
2 cups pumpkin puree
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*

Preheat oven to 425°. Roll out pie crust and carefully transfer it to a 9″ pie plate. Trim the edges and use the extra dough for garnishing the pie, if desired.

Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend until combined. Pour the filling into the crust.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°. Bake for another 40-45 minutes, or until the center has set. Place the pie plate on a cooling rack to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

*If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice on hand, it’s easy to mix your own! I use 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg, 4 teaspoons ground ginger, and 1 teaspoon ground allspice.

The aroma of nutty whole wheat pastry crust, browning butter, and melting cheese hung in the air as this galette baked. I resisted the urge to pull it from the oven before it was finished baking. Quickly and carefully, I transferred the piping hot galette to a fresh piece of parchment paper for [...]]]>

The aroma of nutty whole wheat pastry crust, browning butter, and melting cheese hung in the air as this galette baked. I resisted the urge to pull it from the oven before it was finished baking. Quickly and carefully, I transferred the piping hot galette to a fresh piece of parchment paper for its photo shoot. I snapped a few quick (blurry) photos, then got to work slicing and eating this galette. When you make this for yourself, you’ll understand.

Swiss chard was prolific in our garden this year. It was the easiest crop to take care of and produces more chard than we can eat ourselves. It doesn’t show any signs of stopping, even with the cooler temperatures we have (finally) been experiencing this week!

Fall is just around the corner, which means that it must be football season. I don’t know much about football, and you probably won’t catch me on the couch every Sunday morning. But add a football theme to a baking challenge and I’ll definitely be cheering.

September’s “You Want Pies With That?” theme is football, so I decided to honor my alma mater with this Swiss chard galette. Portland State’s colors are forest green and white, so chard is the perfect vegetable to represent PSU!

I sliced this galette into four generous slices, though you could get six servings out of it if you prefer. My inner math geek loves that these slices look like right triangles.

Swiss Chard Galette
Crust adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Filling created by Simple Math Bakery
Yield: 4-6 servings, depending on how you slice it

For the crust:
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, coarsely diced
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water

For the filling:
1 bunch chard (about 16 leaves)
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

To make the crust:
In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt together. Add the cold butter and cut in with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream and ice water. Add the liquid to the flour mixture and stir gently with a wooden spoon until lumps form. Gather the lumps together into a disc shape and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

To make the filling:
Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Separate the chard leaves from the stems. Chop the stems into 1/2 inch pieces, and slice the leaves into strips. Boil the stems for 3 minutes, then add the leaves and continue to boil for another 3 minutes. Pour the chard into a colander, rinse with cold water, and allow to drain. Press out as much water as possible with a kitchen towel or paper towel.

In a large bowl, combine the chard, feta cheese, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

To assemble the galette:
Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to facilitate easier removal of the galette, or just leave the baking sheet ungreased.

On a floured surface, roll out the galette to a 12 inch circle. Spread ricotta cheese to within 1 or 2 inches of the edges. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the ricotta. Spoon chard filling in an even layer over the cheese. Fold the edges of the galette over the top of the filling, leaving the center open. Football laces are optional. Using a pastry brush, coat the exposed (folded over) part of the crust with melted butter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Place the entire baking sheet on a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Saturday, 7:10 am. The farmers market had just opened and we found ourselves in front of a bright display of strawberries and marionberries. As we selected one of each type of berry, the farmer appeared in front of us and half-whispered, “I’ve got one container of tayberries back here if you’re interested.” The [...]]]>

Saturday, 7:10 am. The farmers market had just opened and we found ourselves in front of a bright display of strawberries and marionberries. As we selected one of each type of berry, the farmer appeared in front of us and half-whispered, “I’ve got one container of tayberries back here if you’re interested.” The Boyfriend and I exchanged looks. “What’s a tayberry?” I asked. He produced the half pint container and replied, “They’re like gold. They won’t last long.”

I’m not sure if it was his clever marketing or the gorgeous purplish-black hue of the tayberries, but we were sold. We brought home the most delicious collection of strawberries, marionberries, and tayberries. Our CSA share added boysenberries and rhubarb to our bounty. Now, each and every one of those berries could have made their way into our stomachs within a few hours. But I had grander plans for them: pie.

Here they are. The tayberries are on the left side, at the top. They look like blackberries but are longer in shape. They’re a cross between blackberries and raspberries, which means that they taste phenomenal. The perfect addition to my summer berry pie. This pie is definitely a winner, so I’m submitting it to “You Want Pies With That?” for this month’s summer fruit pies roundup.

I decorated my pie with a lattice crust on top, garnished with little pie crust strawberries. The filling came out a beautiful deep purplish-blue color, with a rich sweet-tart berry flavor. The perfect beginning to summer. Now, if only I had some vanilla ice cream…

Rhubarb Berry Pie
Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion
Yield: 1 yummy 9″ pie

For the crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice cold water

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Slice 1/2 cup of the butter into small cubes and add it to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, blend the butter into the flour until it resembles large crumbs.

Slice the remaining butter into 1/4″ pats. To do this, slice a stick of butter lengthwise into four pieces. Rotate the stick and cut four lengthwise slices again. Then slice the strips.

Add the butter pats into the flour mixture and blend just until all the butter is coated in flour. Leave large chunks of butter in the dough for a flakier crust.

Add the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing gently with a fork after each addition. Add enough water that the dough just comes together when you grab a small handful. Resist the urge to add too much water, it may get sticky when you try to roll it out.

Separate the dough into two halves, form each half into a disc shape, and wrap with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This “relaxation period” will serve to keep the dough chilled (thereby preserving the chunks of butter) and allow the gluten to relax (making the dough easier to roll out).

For the filling:
4 cups fresh berries, rinsed (I used 1 cup each of strawberries, marionberries, boysenberries, and tayberries)
1 cup rhubarb, chopped (about 4 small stalks)
1 cup sucanat (or your preferred sugar)
1 1/2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

Preheat the oven to 450°.

Combine the berries and rhubarb in a large bowl. Add sucanat and stir gently until well combined. Sprinkle the tapioca flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg over the berry mixture, gently folding until combined.

Beat the egg white and water in a small bowl. Set aside.

On a generously floured work surface, roll out one of the pie crusts to about 12″ or 13″ in diameter. Gently wrap it around the rolling pin and transfer it to a 9″ pie plate. Brush the inside of the crust with the egg white mixture. This helps to avoid a soggy crust.

Pour the fruit filling into the crust. Roll out the top crust and use it whole or create a design that inspires you. I chose to make a lattice pattern with the top crust. Brush the egg wash over the top of the crust as well.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 450°, then turn the oven down to 350° and bake for an additional 35-50 minutes. If it looks like the filling may bubble over in the oven, place a baking sheet covered with foil underneath the pie. The pie is done when the crust turns brown and the filling is bubbling.

Allow the pie to cool on a cooling rack for 45 minutes before slicing. Then eat it all up!