Patricia eventually moved to Portland, where she continued to bake pies for dinner parties and birthdays. Last year one of her friends suggested that she enter a pie into the Multnomah County Fair’s baked goods competition, so she made a strawberry-rhubarb pie. The official put her still-warm pie straight into a refrigerator and the crust suffered. She won second prize for the pie, with the comment “thick crust” scribbled on the back of the ribbon.

Her competitive streak now sparked, Patricia decided to enter a pie at the Oregon State Fair. Since the fair is the week before Labor Day, when peaches are in season, she settled on baking a peach pie. She brought her pie, thoroughly cooled, to the state fair’s drop-off location in Portland and made sure it did not get refrigerated before the judges had the chance to taste it. This time she won first prize.

DELUXE BUTTER CRUST
Patricia wears a pink apron as she stands in the kitchen of her small, ranch-style house and shows me how she makes her pies. She’s devoted to the Joy of Cooking and relies on its Deluxe Butter Crust recipe. She uses organic produce, King Arthur flour, and a brand of shortening without trans fats. She freezes all the ingredients for the crust, including the flour and a pre-measured cup of shortening.

To keep the crust cool and the butter from melting into the flour, she mixes her crust in a food processor and pulses the flour, butter, shortening, salt, and ice water mixture until it just starts to pull toward the edge of the processor’s bowl. The crust’s dough still looks crumbly, as if it won’t hold together, but Patricia turns it onto the counter and shapes the dough into two discs to rest in the refrigerator for two hours.

After the crust has rested, she rolls each disc into a circle flecked evenly with butter like a fat and flour terrazzo. The pie pan, lined with crust, goes back into the refrigerator while she prepares the fruit.

FRUIT FILLING
Patricia likes heirloom Golden Delicious apples or Jonagolds for apple pies despite the number of people who suggest Cox Pippins and other more exotic varieties. For peach pies, she chooses a combination of moderately ripe and very ripe peaches so she gets both firm texture and lush flavor. She cuts her fruit into 1/2-inch chunks and tosses them with flour, sugar, and the juice of a lemon, but stays away from other flavorings. Her pies are about simplicity: ripe, fresh fruit and a thick, flaky, buttery crust.

Ironically, Patricia doesn’t much like to eat pie. At a restaurant, she seldom orders dessert, and if she does, it’s almost never pie. Why does she bake pies at all? “They’re such crowd pleasers!” she says. How does she know they’re any good since she rarely has a piece? “I haven’t had any complaints yet,” she says as she dries her hands on her apron then slides a pie into the oven.

Will she try again at the state fair or rest on her laurels? “This year I’m baking three pies,” Patricia says. “I’m going for Best in Show.”

Angela Sanders writes about Pacific Northwest history and culture.

RECIPE - Perfect Peach Pie
RECIPE - Louisiana-style Peach Pie with Candied Pecans