Photos from a Pie Marathon (plus Whiskey Peach Galette)

Nine of sixteen pies

Maple Blue-Blackberry Pie

Apple Bacon Roquefort Pie

Blackberry Marmalade Galette

Mumbleberry Pie, Cherry Galette, and Whiskey Peach Chery Galette

Veggie Quiche with Green & Yellow Beans, Chard, Chevre, and Herbs

Fresh Berry & Marscarpone Pie

Lovely Pie Assistants (Jen & Kristen)

Buddies

If the pie buffet is larger than twelve pies, you can't just give your customers a menu. You have to give them a tour too. Thanks to Jen for letting me set a flour bomb off in her kitchen (13 pies in 16 hours!), thanks to Kristen for hawking my wares from the doorway so loudly and convincingly that I think I met half of Capitol Hill (or at least half of Capitol Hill's sweet lovers). Thanks to the dude from Florida who came in with an almost-finished 16 ounce cup of Molly Moon's ice cream shake and, after admitting that he'd already had a cupcake at Cupcake Royale, bought a huge piece of mumbleberry pie. And of course, thanks to Cakespy for hosting the best pie stand yet--it really is the sweetest shop in Seattle.

The last Pie Stand of 2011 will be in September. If you'd like to come, send me your e-mail.

My new favorite August pie is peach whiskey galette. It's really just an adult take on the peach ginger pie that won Best in Show at Cake vs. Pie last year, which proves to me that the best way to make up a pie recipe is to start with one that works and refigure a couple ingredients. Galette dough is easier to work with than an American-style butter crust, and it's a cinch to just throw in a plate and fold over fruit. I prefer ryes over bourbons for sweet pies because bourbon is already so sweet. I would suggest that you try rye with lemonade or ginger ale while you're waiting for your galette to cool, but I bet you've already thought of that.

Not a whiskey peach galette, but you get the idea.

Peach Whiskey Galette

Consider doubling this recipe to make two galettes. Just freeze one and bake it later.

1 recipe galette dough

3-4 large peaches or nectarines

3/4 cup clover honey

juice from 1/2 a lemon

2 shots Bulleit rye whiskey (about 3 to 4 ounces, depending on your shot glass)

pinch of salt

pinch of nutmeg

1/4 cup tapioca flour

a little milk

demerara sugar

Prepare galette dough and refrigerate while preparing the filling.

After removing the pits, cut peaches into 1/4-inch thick slices and place them in your pie pan. Pile them up in the pan until they're level with the top, then dump them into a large bowl. This is a reliable trick for figuring out how much fruit you'll need for a full pie that won't overflow in your oven. No need to peel the peaches unless they're really fuzzy.

Add honey, lemon juice, whiskey, salt, and nutmeg. Stir gently to mix, then taste. Adjust lemon and whiskey as needed. Once the filling tastes just right to you, add the tapioca flour and set the mixture aside.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Retrieve the galette dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on well floured wax paper. This dough can be quite wet, so it's really important to keep everything well floured and unsticky. If you have a pastry scraper, use it to move the dough 45 degrees (clockwise or counter--it doesn't matter) between each stroke of the rolling pin until the dough is too large to move easily. Once it's about 1/4 inch thick, roll it over your rolling pan (helping it off with the dough scraper all the while), center it over the pie pan, and place the dough into the pan. You could also just place the pan upside down over the dough and flip the whole thing over. Peel the wax paper off at a sharp angle and tuck the galette dough into the edges of the pie plate. Leave the dough edges alone for now.

Pour your peach filling into the galette crust and smooth it into a soft mound. Then grab the edge of the galette dough and bring it toward the center of the pie. Grab another edge about four inches or so from the last point and bring it toward the center of the pie. Do this all the way around until your galette dough looks rustic and pleated, and holds all the fruit just where it needs to be: in the pie.

Brush with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake on 425 for 15-20 minutes until the crust is blond and blistered. Lower the temperature to 375 and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. You'll know this galette is done with the crust is golden and the filling bubbles slowly.