Pictures of pi(e)

[Brian Tkatch]

Tough audience in this forum. Howsabout pictures of pie? Or pi? Or both? As long as it's pie or pie, or close enough. Just keep it clean.

Here's an amalgamation of pie and pi.

[Liutauras Vilda]

Here you go, 2 pieces left, hurry up.

[Bear Bibeault]

Chicken Pot Pie

[Brian Tkatch]

Pi in the sky

[Matthew Brown]

[Andrew Polansky]

Bear Bibeault wrote:Chicken Pot Pie

Mmmm. It looks so delicious. It would be great if you could share a recipe.

[Brian Tkatch]

Adam Scheller wrote:

I'd love to halve that cake and share it with you, but we're looking for pie. Noone said it would be a cake walk.

[Bear Bibeault]

Adam Scheller wrote:Mmmm. It looks so delicious. It would be great if you could share a recipe.

Bear’s Pie Pastry

2 c (9 oz.) AP flour
8 T unsalted butter, diced and frozen
1 T sugar
1 t salt
7 T ice water

1. Put 1 c of the flour in food processor. Toss in the frozen butter, then top with the remaining flour.

2. Add salt and sugar, and pulse until the consistency of sand.

3. Add 6 T water and while pulsing until it all comes together. Looking down into the processor, add remaining water until the mixture just stops falling back against the center post.

4. Dump it out into a parchment sheet, and form into a patty.

5. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour before using.


Bear’s Pressure Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Filling

2 large boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size dice
16 oz bag frozen mixed vegetables
2 c chicken broth (home-made if possible)

5 T butter (1/2 sticks)
1/3 c flour (1.4 oz)

1/4 c heavy cream

pie crust recipe
1 egg + 1 T water (or cream)

1. Put chicken, vegetables, and stock into the pressure cooker insert. Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Use 10-minute natural release.

2. While release is under way, make a honey-colored roux with the butter and flour.

3. Add cream to chicken mixture and bring to a boil.

4. Add roux and stir until thickened. Corn or potato starch slurry can be added if further thickness is needed.

5. Preheat oven to 400ºF.

6. Let chicken mixture cool while rolling out dough and lining pie plate or plates.

7. Fill pie(s), crimp, and egg wash them. Cut slits.

8. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until browned.

9. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Note: without a pressure cooker, just use a heavy pot and cook for about 25 minutes.



I use these:

[Andrew Polansky]

Brian Tkatch wrote:I'd love to halve that cake and share it with you, but we're looking for pie. Noone said it would be a cake walk.

Forgive me. If Bear will deliver me his recipe, I will be able to produce a pie photo next weekend.

[Brian Tkatch]

Adam Scheller wrote:Forgive me. If Bear will deliver me his recipe, I will be able to produce a pie photo next weekend.

Can i quote you on that? Wait a second...

[Liutauras Vilda]

Bear Bibeault wrote:Bear’s Pie Pastry... Bear’s Pressure Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Filling

I heard people say: the algorithm in science is very similar to recipe in food field. I think the latter is way more difficult Following the recipe, slightly different input can messup the output, where algorithms are meant to work on pretty much any input of the same kind.

[Brian Tkatch]

Liutauras Vilda wrote:

Bear Bibeault wrote:Bear’s Pie Pastry... Bear’s Pressure Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Filling

I heard people say: the algorithm in science is very similar to recipe in food field. I think the latter is way more difficult Following the recipe, slightly different input can messup the output, where algorithms are meant to work on pretty much any input of the same kind.

There is a saying: Too many cooks spoil the broth. By code, however, quite the opposite is true.

[Bear Bibeault]

Liutauras Vilda wrote:Following the recipe, slightly different input can messup the output

Different people, following the same recipe, can indeed result in different outcomes (ask me about my mom's lasagna recipe). Not always a mess-up though... just different.

[Andrew Polansky]

Adam Scheller wrote:If Bear will deliver me his recipe, I will be able to produce a pie photo next weekend.

Looks like I and Bear posted our posts simultaneously. Thanks a lot for the recipe Bear! I thought that I will have time for it next week, but I guess I should be able to find some free time tomorrow. I will post results

The thing with different people following the same recipe is... well, people never follow a recipe in 100%. I am not sure even if it's possible to do so. In example, a recipe can has in it "add some soil and pepper". Every person has different taste. My wife used to add twice as much salt as I do! Every person has different techniques in cooking which affects the final result.

In computer code, you can't say "allocate some memory for the array". You always must follow specs in 100%.

[Brian Tkatch]

Adam Scheller wrote:In example, a recipe can has in it "add some soil and pepper"

Mud pies. Mmmmm.... :P

[Bear Bibeault]

Adam Scheller wrote: well, people never follow a recipe in 100%.

There's not only that, but also simple matters of technique.

For a topical example, the pot pie recipe calls for creating a honey-colored roux. Your estimation of when the roux is ready could end up being rather different from mine, which could result in not only a difference in taste but in texture and consistency.

Also, in the handling of the pie dough. The recipe I posted is pretty lenient, but there are some pie dough recipes that are very sensitive to too much handling, resulting in a hard, brittle crust rather than a tender and flaky one.

[Andrew Polansky]

So I am done with consumption of Bear's pies





They aren't shaped the best, but taste great! I never thought that combination of pie and veggies with chicken can taste this good. Great recipe, Bear! The pastry is tasted exceptionally good, I am going now to use your pastry recipe for other pies


I am reposting Bear's recipe below, updated to use metric units:

Bear’s Pie Pastry
metric units version

255g AP flour
8 T unsalted butter, diced and frozen
1 T sugar
1 t salt
7 T ice water

1. Put 120g of the flour in food processor. Toss in the frozen butter, then top with the remaining flour.

2. Add salt and sugar, and pulse until the consistency of sand.

3. Add 6 T water and while pulsing until it all comes together. Looking down into the processor, add remaining water until the mixture just stops falling back against the center post.

4. Dump it out into a parchment sheet, and form into a patty.

5. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour before using.



Bear’s Pressure Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Filling
metric units version

2 large boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size dice
450g bag frozen mixed vegetables
480ml chicken broth (home-made if possible)
5 T butter (1/2 sticks)
40g flour
60ml heavy cream

pie crust recipe
1 egg + 1T water (or cream)

1. Put chicken, vegetables, and stock into the pressure cooker insert. Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Use 10-minute natural release.

2. While release is under way, make a honey-colored roux with the butter and flour.

3. Add cream to chicken mixture and bring to a boil.

4. Add roux and stir until thickened. Corn or potato starch slurry can be added if further thickness is needed.

5. Preheat oven to 200°C.

6. Let chicken mixture cool while rolling out dough and lining pie plate or plates.

7. Fill pie(s), crimp, and egg wash them. Cut slits.

8. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until browned.

9. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Note: without a pressure cooker, just use a heavy pot and cook for about 25 minutes.

[Bear Bibeault]

Glad you enjoyed the pies!

Yes, the pastry is a great recipe too. It's really really good for sweet pies as well. Apple hand-pies for example:



I'm told they're called pasties over on that side of the pond.

Recipe available upon request.

[Andrew Polansky]

I would love to get the recipe. After trying this pastry I started already planning to make it again, this time filled with something sweet. Originally I was thinking strawberries, but apples will be great as well.

[Bear Bibeault]

Bear’s Apple Hand Pie Filling

3 T butter
2 large Granny Smith apples (or 3 medium)
1/4 t salt
1/4 c white sugar
2 T brown sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon, or to taste
1 T of water

1. Melt butter in skillet and heat until just browning.

2. Add apples and salt and cook until apples begin to soften and brown.

3. Add sugars, cinnamon and water and mix quickly to form a sauce.

Let cool a bit before using for pie filling (or it will soften the pie dough too much).



For those in parts of the world where Granny Smith apples aren't available here's a description so you can pick a suitable replacement.

[Andrew Polansky]

Sounds delicious, thank you Bear. I am not sure if I will be able to get similar apples in the current part of the year, but I will check what is available.

[Bear Bibeault]

Interesting. Apples are ubiquitous here in the States, and hold up well in storage, so they are one of the fruits that are available year-round.

Granny Smith's are the baking apple of choice here because not only do they stand up well to heat and not turn to mush when cooked, but also apples naturally sweeten when they are cooked and these are tart and so don't end up overly-sweet when cooked.

So as a substitution, look for firm, tart apples.

As for raw eating apples: a fairly new variety called the Honeycrisp is beyond sublime!

[Andrew Polansky]

So I made those pies today and they were delicious! I am not a big fan of sweet things, but those pies were simply amazing.



I have managed to find Granny Smith's apples in our local store, surprisingly. Apples are generally available all year round, but during winter time the selection is much smaller - most of the fruits are imported from other countries. In example, the apples I got today are from France.

I didn't know that baking pies is so fun. It doesn't take much time to bake a pie and the results are pretty nice. I am mostly into cooking meats, but I think I will try with baking a little more now. As a kid I was helping my mother who was professionally baking cakes, so I still remember some technique

Bear, do you have more of such great recipes?

[Bear Bibeault]

Glad you like them!

I got lots of recipes. For a variation on that theme, if you can get peaches, substitute peaches for the apples, and cut back on the cinnamon. Add a pinch of nutmeg.

Most of the recipes I've been developing lately have been for my electric pressure cooker.

[Andrew Polansky]

I will check out if peaches are available. I must exercise doing this pastry to master it

How thick are you doing the pastry for those hand pies?

And do you have a tried recipe for French pastry? I think I ate once a pie with similar one as from your last recipe which was wrapped around French pastry. I would want to try to bake that.

[Bear Bibeault]

Adam Scheller wrote:I will check out if peaches are available. I must exercise doing this pastry to master it

Any lovely fruit will do!

How thick are you doing the pastry for those hand pies?

Uhhh, never measured. "Until it seems right" isn't helpful, but, yeah...

And do you have a tried recipe for French pastry?

Not sure what that would be called here. Perhaps puff pastry? If so, no. We buy that frozen here 'cause it's a royal PITA to make without special equipment.

[Andrew Polansky]

If the time allows, maybe I will try to experiment with some new filling tomorrow

Yes, I had puff pastry on mind when saying "French pastry". I found something like this on YouTube. I am wondering if it would really work.

[Bear Bibeault]

General consensus among my foodie friends is that puff pastry best comes from the store. You can spend a lot of time and effort making your own, but to often mediocre or disappointing results.

Doesn't mean to wouldn't be fun to try once.

[Giovanni Montano]

Brian Tkatch wrote:Tough audience in this forum. Howsabout pictures of pie? Or pi? Or both? As long as it's pie or pie, or close enough. Just keep it clean.

Here's an amalgamation of pie and pi.

Had to buy a pie to see the most beautiful hidden gem of the forum!