bake - December 2017 - 40

40 < DEC 2017 | bakemag.com

The savory side of pies is alive and well at pie shops across the country. At
Hoosier Mama Pie Co. in Chicago, they are making chicken pot pies and
pork apple sage pies to tantalize guests with new and interesting ﬂavor
combinations for the winter months. At Detroit's Sister Pie, they offer the
perfect mix of savory and sweet with $4 savory hand pies for lunch, sweet
and savory scones, and full-size pies ranging in unique ﬂavors from coffee
chess to apple sage gouda.
"We make pies (and cookies and scones, etc.) with traditional techniques
and rustic execution," says Lisa Ludwinski, head baker and owner of Sister
Pie in Detroit. "There's the familiarity factor that people crave. But then
we use that structure (and the agricultural calendar in Michigan) to allow
room for creativity. How can I make a cherry pie taste just a little bit different or be just a little bit special enough that it's better than pie at home?
We focus on creating simple, straightforward ﬂavors with a twist."
Ludwinski spent most of her childhood in Milford, Michigan, where she
recalls early memories of the baking world. "When I was 2, I remember
my parents lifting me up to look through the glass at our local Cinnabon.
I was inﬂuenced by Martha Stewart and Ina Garten, of course, two badass
women who totally owned what they did. I could watch videos of them for
hours."
Today, she believes her shop deﬁnitely has a strong pie dough, and she
develops her craft through lots and lots of thoughtful repetition. "Every
time I roll out a pie crust or develop a new ﬁlling recipe, I deepen my understanding of why we do what we do. I could read a dozen books on the
subject, I'm sure, but I learn the best from experiencing it hands-on."
She wouldn't classify gluten-free or vegan food as being a trend so much
as a response to heightened awareness and understanding of how food
affects us. "With that said, we get lots and lots of requests for that. We
deﬁnitely have to make more of a concerted effort to get a vegan pie and/
or gluten-free pie on the menu."
Savory hand pies are also gaining popularity in Chicago where chef/coowner Paula Haney just recently expanded her Hoosier Mama Pie Co. from
750 square feet (where they barely had room to move) to 1,100 square
feet. Now customers have enough tales to enjoy a slice of pie and read a
book in her shop. Haney started a partnership with Dollop Coffee & Tea
Co. at her second pie shop that opened in 2013 in the Chicago suburb of
Evanston. The surge in popularity of Hoosier Mama Pie led to the publication of her ﬁrst cookbook. But now is not the time for rapid expansion,
Haney says. "I want to make the shops we have perfect. I think you can
taste the difference between someone who does it for the love of food or
someone who just saw a hot business opportunity." JOHN UNREIN

©ALLEKO - STOCK.ADOBE.COM

THE SAVORY SIDE OF PIE

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bake - December 2017

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