Take Baking to the Geekiest Level With the Pi Pan

Thank you for entering PA Eats’s Pi Pan Giveaway! 

We used a random number generator to select a winner, with comment #2 nabbing the pi pan before it even hits stores.

Congratulations, Greg Zucal!

We’ll be in touch via email with ticket retrieval details.

Dying to discover the geekiest way to bake a pie? With the help of San Antonio’s Garrett Heath, you can take your love of 3.14159265359 to the nerdiest of levels. Heath, a self-proclaimed pi enthusiast, had dreamed of designing a pi-shaped pie pan, and with the help of Kickstarter and a gaggle of geeks, his project is becoming a nerd reality.

Currently, his pi pan campaign has successfully received over $11,000 of backing, but he still needs your help! In order to raise funds to develop a long-term, high-quality product and meet the demands of pi lovers across the nation—and world— he’s calling for backers until Sept. 6 (that’s 10 days from now)! If you pledge $15 or more, you’ll score a pi pan of your own. Additional pledging levels and rewards are available for viewing on Heath’s Kickstarter campaign.

The pi pan has been a long time coming, too. Heath left his position in the software world in 2010 to explore creative avenues, including food blogging and designing prototypes for his pi-themed pan. Come 2012, his friend since middle school reminded him of his designs for the pi pan, connected him with a friend at MIT, Chris Possinger, and the manufacturing stages started full-throttle. Several molds were made from the prototype, and in the first half of 2013 that they found a proper manufacturer for the final run of the product.

Since March 14th has always held a special spot in my nerd heart and I’ve been known to bake quite a few pies, I teamed up with fellow nerdist Garrett to test out the coming-soon baking pan—all for the love of 3.14159265359, of course. My full pi recipe and photos of my baking session may be seen below our giveaway announcement.

Want to test out the pi pan too?

PA Eats has (1) Pi Pan (a $15 value) to give away to a fellow geek before anyone else can get their baking paws on it!

How to enter?

1) Share the Pi Pan Kickstarter campaign on Facebook or Twitter—or both (double the chance of winning!).

Tweetable message: “Pi Pans: The Geekiest Way to Bake a Pie by Pinojo http://kck.st/19aEwYH via @kickstarter @pinojo”

2) Leave a comment on this article sharing that you successfully performed step 1 and explaining why you, in all your nerdiness, deserve to own this pan.

Contest ends on Monday, Sept. 1, 2013 at midnight and is open to U.S. residents only. One person will be selected at random soon after and will be announced on this post on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2013. A Town Dish representative will also reach out to the winner via email.

May the best pi lover and baker win!

Southern Peach Pie

makes 1 pie

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 1/2 cup cold solid vegetable shortening

• 1/4 cup ice water

Filling:

• 7 large, ripe peaches (3–3 1/4 pounds)

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, thinly sliced

• egg wash (1 egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons water)

Method:

1. In a food processor, pulse the flour with the sugar and salt. Add the butter and shortening to the mixture, and pulse until well-combined (resembles coarse meal). Transfer the dough mixture to a large bowl and sprinkle ice water slowly on top. Combine until a dough ball forms. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times, just until the dough comes together and is not sticky or too dry. Divide dough into two balls, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (until firm) or overnight.

2. Remove dough from fridge and roll out the balls of dough in the shape of a large oval, about 10” by 13” (dough will be on the thinner side). Ease the oval into the greased pi pan, delicately pressing the dough into the body of the mold. Ease the second oval onto a cookie sheet. Refrigerate the dough.

3. Preheat the oven to 400°. Prepare the pie filling. Blanch the peaches. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and also, prepare a large bowl with ice water. Cut a shallow X in the bottom of each peach. Blanch the peaches in the boiling water for about 1 minute, or until you notice the skins loosen. Remove peaches from boiling water and transfer to ice water to cool. Drain and peel the peaches. Slice the skinless fruit into half-inch wedges or each peach into 8 slices. Blend filling ingredients. Combined sliced peaches with sugar, lemon juice and flour. Toss well and let stand for 10 minutes.

4. Pour peach filling into the chilled pi pan shell. Cut a tablespoon of butter into small pieces and scatter atop the filling. Brush the edge of the pie shell with the egg wash. Slice the pie shell that remains on the cookie sheet into strips to construct a lattice top crust or prepare a preferred top crust design. Once top crust is prepared, press and assemble the edges of the pie shell together to seal. Trim the overhang to 1/4 inch. Brush the remaining egg wash on the top crust

5. Transfer the pie to the oven on the middle rack and place a baking sheet in the bottom to catch any drips.

6. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375° and bake for about 40 minutes longer, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is deeply golden on the top and bottom. Transfer the pie to a rack to cool completely.

7. Serve with creme fraiche, ice cream or whipped cream.

Product review

Hit a social gathering with a pi pan baked good, and you’ll be the talk of the party! Attention-grabbing and entertainingly geeky, the pi pan was way easier to use than one may assume. While prepping a dough to fit the pi mold may appear challenging at first, just elongating a basic 9” round into an oval does the trick. Better yet, the pan Heath and his team designed is high-quality, holding up against many baking tests. While pies are the most popular baked goods attacked with this pan, it’s also equally as excellent to use with all forms of baking (talking breads and cakes). Take note: since the pan’s outside surface area is larger than a round pan, for a crumb-style crust (graham cracker, Oreo, etc.) you need to increase the recipe by about 25 percent.

More information is available here.