In the last two and a half years, since I started Teeny Pies, I’d estimate that I’ve made roughly 60,000 pies, give or take a few, and needless to say in order to retain some semblance of my sanity the process has become a bit routine. Mondays and Tuesdays were for rolling out crusts and gathering any ingredients that I hadn’t picked up at the Saturday farmer’s market. Wednesdays were for peeling or chopping fruit and mixing together copious amounts of savory pot pie filling. Thursdays and Fridays were building and baking days, where previously rolled pie shells were filled with delectable fruit fillings or succulent savory fillings and then baked to a beautiful golden brown. Once they’d cooled they were packaged, stickered, and stored for the following day’s market. Fridays and Saturdays were market days, where friends and strangers alike laughed, ate, danced, sipped their morning coffee and supported small businesses.

Holidays, weddings, family reunions and other various special events meant extra pies but the basic weekly routine stayed the same. Every so often, I would work up the energy to bake at home but more often than not I would simply bring any unsold farmer’s market pies to dinner parties, picnics, or friend gatherings rather than spending any outside work time even thinking about pies.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love making pie (thank goodness) and consider myself insanely lucky that I managed to finagle a professional pie making life out of the universe BUT it’s been rather a long time since I’ve baked for pleasure rather than to make a living.

Which is why getting to spend the next six months in Danville, Kentucky is so magical! I get to bake pies for the pure joy of it again. I get to try new recipes that I’ve been dying to try for the last two years but haven’t had the time or energy to attempt. I get to experiment with farm fresh, seasonal produce obtained from the side of the middle-of-nowhere-country road. I don’t have an apoplectic fit if something goes wrong or a new flavor combination tastes decidedly funny, because I’m only making one rather than one hundred. I get to dream in pie again and it’s going to be an e-pie-cally insane summer of baking.

Here’s the working list to flavors to experiment with:

strawberry rye blueberry oatmeal pepperoni pizza brisket pot pie clementine cream butter chicken curry veggie curry w/ potato and peas lamb & lentil apricot & ricotta brulee banana cream dark chocolate & roasted almond white bean & rosemary galette

What do you think? Pretty stellar start, if I do say so myself. I can’t wait to throw professionalism out the window and dive into my flour bin headfirst. Strawberry rye and blueberry oatmeal have both been resounding successes and while I’m sure there will be a few duds here and there, I’m pretty thrilled to once again be able to bake for the love of it. There’s always an extra apron in the kitchen if you’re in the neighborhood and feeling up to the challenge of dreaming in pie!

For the Love of Pie!