Bobby Flay's Throwdown! (17 page)

Names: Janet LaPosta and Ally (Alice) Taylor
Establishment: The Berry Manor Inn
Hometown: Rockland, Maine
Website:
www.berrymanorinn.com
Phone: (800) 774-5692

I was off to picturesque Rockland, Maine (also known as Pie Town), where the fruit pie is a little slice of heaven and the local ambassadors, Janet LaPosta and Ally Taylor, are the “Pie Moms” of the Berry Manor Inn. Summer is peak pie time in Rockland, and it was Throwdown time as well.

Janet and Ally are the mothers of Rockland’s Berry Manor Inn owners Cheryl and Michael. Brought together by their children’s marriage, the two found something else to bond over: pie. The Pie Moms bake more than 500 pies each year for the inn’s lucky guests and for Rockland’s annual Pies on Parade event. Some of their favorites are apple, strawberry-rhubarb, and a mixed berry pie full of Maine’s prized blueberries. They think they make the best pies in the world and aren’t afraid to tell you so. After all, Janet and Ally have close to a hundred years of baking experience between them and the whole town behind them.

These local celebrities thought that they were going to be the stars of a Food Network series called “Pie à la Road,” and planned on making a four-berry pie for their segment.

Because my baking skills aren’t quite up to par with my cooking skills, I had my work cut out for me and was off to the test kitchen to tackle what I decided would be a blackberry-peach pie, as those are my two favorite summer fruits. I macerated the sliced peaches in a mixture of white and brown sugars, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a touch of cornstarch, which helps thicken the filling. I added a splash of peach-flavored brandy to heighten the peach flavor and cold butter for a little richness. I then macerated the blackberries in a little blackberry liqueur and added it to the peach mixture. But I still had to deal with the crust.

The hardest part about baking a pie is getting a flaky, tender crust. I decided to make my dough with both butter, for flavor, and shortening to make the crust extra-flaky. There are several steps vital to making a good crust: start with cold ingredients, work quickly to get them all incorporated, and don’t overwork the dough. Pastry rolled and fruit ready, I assembled the pie, brushing it with heavy cream and raw sugar before cutting slits for the steam to vent and baking it. Easy as pie…

We rolled up on the Pie Moms with our peach-blackberry pies all ready in the trunk of our car. Janet and Ally were shocked by my Throwdown challenge (not so shocked that they didn’t make me try on a pie hat, though), but quickly regained their composure. The next thing you knew, those two sweet ladies turned into killer competition, stealing my flour and making fun of my pie-rolling technique. They told me that my pie was good, but they couldn’t see waking up in the middle of the night to eat it.

Rockland’s Mayor Brian Harden and Melanie Omlor, the owner of Helen’s Restaurant, which is famous for its pies, judged our pies on presentation, overall taste, and crust. They thought our filling was thickened to just the right consistency and that both the top and bottom crusts were perfectly baked through. The mayor and Melanie loved the look of the Pie Moms’ pie, and while they thought that the filling was sweetened perfectly, it wasn’t thick enough and ran all over the plate. The winner of this Throwdown? Uh-oh, it was me.

The first thing I thought after winning was “My mother is going to kill me,” and sure enough, I got an earful from her when the episode aired. I’m not sure how I did it, but I do know that I’d eat one of Janet and Ally’s fine pies any day.

MAKES 1 (9-INCH) PIE

1.
To make the crust,
put the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the butter and shortening on top, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ¼ cup ice-cold water and pulse until the dough just comes together. (You can add up to 3 tablespoons additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed.) Remove the dough from the machine and lightly knead it on a lightly floured flat surface until it just comes together. Form into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.

3.
To make the filling,
put the blackberries in a small bowl, add the blackberry liqueur, and toss gently to coat. Let sit for 5 minutes.

4.
Combine the peaches, both sugars, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, peach brandy, and cornstarch in a large bowl and mix until well combined. Let sit for 10 minutes. Fold in the blackberries just before adding the filling to the pie.

5.
Divide the dough in half and roll each half out on a lightly floured surface to a 13- to 14-inch round. Transfer one of the rounds to a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Using a slotted spoon, spoon the fruit mixture into the crust. Add some of the juices that have accumulated in the bowl. Scatter the butter over the filling. Roll up the remaining dough on your rolling pin, and unroll it atop the fruit mixture. Trim the edges of both crusts to a ¾-inch overhang. Fold the edges over, pressing to seal. Crimp the edges. Cut 6 slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Brush the top of the pie with the cream, and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.

6.
Put the pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake on the bottom rack of the oven until the crust is golden and the juices are bubbling thickly through the slits, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. (Cover the edges of the crust with foil if browning too quickly.)

7.
Let the pie cool for at least 3 hours before serving.

MAKES 1 (9½-INCH) DEEP-DISH PIE