Hello from NL 40. This is Bake Sense, the somewhat ordered record of ramblings that concern the world of baking, from championing flavour and wholesome ingredients to questioning where those ingredients come from and how we can make the most of them. Along the way, you’ll find recipes and insights from life in and out of the professional bakery and plenty of fruitful chat.
Even those who claim not to be ‘pie people’ surely have a hard time navigating this point in the year without feeling some compulsion to break out the butter and accost a bushel of apples or sink more than they can afford in nuts into a syrupy custard and perfectly crimped crust.
The pull to perform with pie is everywhere. But what makes pie so compelling?
As someone who needs no persuading when it comes to pie, I am here, front and centre, waving my arms and cheering for all the beautiful iterations I see. They are generosity piesonified, from the time and effort that goes into preparing them to the ample portions they supply at feasts and gatherings.
Ultimately, my attachment to and affection for pies pertains to their blank canvas appeal—a shell to be filled with flavours and textures. Diverse flours, sugars, fruits, nuts and additional flavourings are prime for exploring through the medium of pie.
With more ideas than I could ever execute and a packed schedule at the bakery, I am resisting the urge to fill every pie plate I own with something suitably seasonal and instead living piecariously through the creations of others, which in turn is fuelling my creative fire and sparking ideas for bakes, desserts and confections that transcend the season…
Adding a layer of sweet toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) to the top of pumpkin pie for textural contrast is a stroke of genius from Clare Saffitz. Maybe it can win over the pumpkin pie sceptics around here.
Seeing the Sorghum run shared by Milk Glass Pie made me think about the sugars and syrups that have become so customary in regional baking around the world; how they create whole flavour and texture profiles that are inextricably linked with this time of year, from all the iterations of sticky ginger cakes such as Yorkshire’s Parkin and Derbyshire’s Thor Cake to the confusingly named Treacle tart made with Golden Syrup. It got me thinking about the stash of homemade molasses made with apples and pears that I should stop hoarding and put to good use.
For the pulse-loving and daringly different pie makers out there, this bean pie caught my eye. I’m always looking for ways to put my stash of Hodmedods to good use.
Fact: some people consider cheesecake a variety of pie and who am I to argue. After making my first cheesecake in years this week, I slipped down a rabbit hole in search of new and intriguing recipes. I stumbled upon this stunning creation by Marie Havnoe Frank and her newsletter here on Substack, which is a delight!
Bakery News…
In place of pie, this week has been full of custard, cake and croissants. We bid farewell to the Sticky Toffee Puddings for another year (never say never) and embraced new freezers to mark the beginning of festive biscuit production.
We recently launched our festive collection, which is now available to preorder for collection from the bakery on set dates in December or for dispatch anywhere in the UK. You can read more about this annual tradition and order yourself or someone nice a little something here.
For those of you who subscribe to the Extra Credit portion of the newsletter, keep reading for the discount code, which can be used on any order from the NOVA festive range as a thank you for supporting Bake Sense.