bake - November 2017 - 48

Hoosier Mama
pie

company

When Paula Haney opened her now popular Hoosier

with a smile. "Most can do 40. Sometimes, we set a

Mama Pie Co. in 2009 in Chicago, she admits that

timer and everybody starts rolling. Everybody here

some of the early questions from customers took her

takes great pride in rolling pie dough. I think you have

by surprise. "You're going to make cupcakes, too?"

to be emotionally connected to what you do to be

some asked. No, there would be no cupcakes, even

successful."

though at the time cupcakes were all the rage.
Having worked under superstar chefs like Achatz
Haney had the foresight to devote her new bakery to

helped her understand and appreciate the power of

what she loved to bake: pies. It had been a long road

channeling "crazy intensity" for the greater good.

to get there, and she was determined to focus all her

"Grant Achatz, in particular, was really good at

energies on pie excellence.

getting everybody to believe in what's possible."

"I had struggled with pie crusts for a long time,"

The hoosier in Hoosier Mama Pie comes from

admits Haney, who worked her way up in the food

Haney's roots in growing up in Indiana, where she

business through ﬁne dining (working in pastry at

was surrounded by chain restaurants and it "never

Trio under Shawn McClain and then Grant Achatz). "I

occurred to me that (baking) could be a career." Her

experimented with ﬂours, different sweeteners. I read

ﬁrst baking experience came at a coffeehouse in

every cookbook I could ﬁnd. Someone told me early

Bloomington. She went to school at Indiana University

in my career that hard work will always be rewarded."

where she initially studied to become a political
reporter. It was shyness ("I couldn't talk to strangers")

Her ﬁnal recipe came down to all-purpose ﬂour,

that led her to pursue a different career path, and

unsalted butter, a little salt, a little sugar and ice

ultimately it was her husband Craig who convinced

water. "Our little trick is to put in a little vinegar in the

her to open a pie shop after years of working for ﬁne

water as a little failsafe." Haney admits she likes lard

dining restaurants. "My husband said, 'Why not be a

for ﬂaky pie crusts, as many pie aﬁcionados agree.

baker? That's what makes you happy.'"

"In my grand plan, I would offer a choice of butter or
lard, but the chance of mixing it up is too high, so I

Once she opened Hoosier Mama Pie, Haney was all in.

can't do it."

She quickly learned the importance of documenting
everything. She and her staff depend on three

Speed is of the essence in the pie production process

metrics: time, visual cues and time "suggestions."

to 100 large pies per day during the weekdays, not

"You have to use all of your senses to tell if something

including 6-inch pies. On a pie day at their second

is done," says Haney, spoken like a true baker. "You

shop in Evanston, Illinois, they will sell more than 600

can tell by the sound the pie dough makes in the

slices of pie in a day. "We're pretty fast. Everybody

mixer when it's done. You've only got a few seconds

here must be able to do 20 crimps an hour," she says

on either side. It's cool, but it's terrifying."

48 < NOV 2017 | bakemag.com

JOHN UNREIN

at Hoosier Mama Pie, which sells anywhere from 35
http://www.bakemag.com
bake - November 2017

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