Sister Pie Bakery. - Sister Pie: the recipes & stories of a big-hearted bakery in Detroit

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you:

To Lorena Jones, Ashley Lima, Kristin Casemore, Allison Renzulli, Serena Sigona, and everyone else at Ten Speed Press for the opportunity to share our pies with the world. This book is a beautiful collaboration.

To Emily Berger-Crawford, this books photographer and my newfound friend: Your commitment to and vision for this project exceeded my wildest dreams. You make us look so good.

To Anji Reynolds Barto: You are a powerhouse of creativity, hustle, creeping skills, and kindness. I treasure our complicated friendship. Thanks for the dance duos, tolerating my chronic absentmindedness, and letting me leave for a month to write this thing.

To the shop parents, Mother Pie (Diane) and Father Ply (Kurt): I cannot contain my gratitude for you. Amid mistakes, triumphs, and all those times in my twenties when I asked you for money, youve continued to support my sassy, headstrong, weirdo self. Everything you did led me to here. I am eternally and profoundly thankful.

To the original Sister Pie, Sarah, my sibling and companion for life: I love you to dog-heaven and back.

To the rest of the Sister Pie staff, past and present: Thank you, Ashley Addrow-Pierson, Shameka Amos, Amy Anderson, Bridget Bailey, Shontasia Bass, Amber Beasley, Tianna Bogan, Brittney Bowen, Kara Bruhns, Anthea Calhoun-Bey, Shavonta Carson, Camille Chippewa, Reed Clancy, Josephine Corrado, Tyetonia Currie, Danielle Daguio, China Davis, Shanel DeWalt, Kristen Ellis, Amy Ervin, Dominica Estes, Lauren Glapa, Jessica Grabbe, Kamaria Gray, Morgan Hutson, MyThy Huynh, Avida Johnson, Beverly Johnson, Taylor Karabach, Casey Kempton, Maggie McGuire, Bri Meilbeck, Hannah Miller, Gabrielle Moses, Colin Packard, Jane Pastor, Zach Poley, Nicole Ponton, Maddy Rager, Maisie Rodriguez, Troi Rogers, Leanne Roznowski, Steve St. James, Erin Shawgo, Erin Sheehan, Starshay Tarleton, Molly Trahan, and Stephanie Vella.

To literary agent Kari Stuart: Id be lost without your literary savvy and words of encouragement.

To Maddie LaKind: Youve got the kind of swag no one can touch. Thanks for hammering out every single detail of this project with me, and for all the stomach openers in between, my dear friend.

To Hilary Fann, professional and home baker extraordinaire: Theres no one Id rather eat smoked whitefish dip with while watching a pure Michigan sunset. Thanks for traveling down holiday road once again, and working around the clock to tweak each tablespoon.

To the rest of my at-home recipe testing crew, Mike Behm, Tim Mazurek, Colin Packard, and Fiona Ruddy: Your tough love was always just right. Thank you for putting in a heck-ton of work on this and for always catching my typos.

To Meagan Elliott, Sister Pies very own calligrapher and my ever-supportive sweet friend.

To a whole host of folks who have, in big and small ways, supported and shaped me, this bakery, and this book: Katie Asadi, Ryan Barto, Jeni Britton-Bauer, Bianca Colbath, Jess Daniel, Devita Davison, Jena Derman, Jamie Dessecker, Emily Elsen, Melissa Elsen, Emily Harpe, Ryan Hatch, Ben Houston, Helen Jo, Emilia Juocys, Vittoria Katanski, Anne LaTarte, Courtney McBroom, Matt McKenna, Jill Meyer, Ryan OByrne, Pam and Mark Reynolds, Nancy Schott, Irene Mimi Skarjune, Dustin Smith, Christina Tosi, and so many more.

LISA LUDWINSKI was born and raised in Michigan and is the owner of Sister Pie, which has been featured in Bon Apptit and the New York Times, among other publications. She lives in Detroit, Michigan, with her trusty pup, Ruby Thursday.

EPILOGUE

My understanding of what sisterhood means has expanded over the course of my lifetime and will, I trust, continue to transform. It began when my sister Sarah was born and I learned to share. It continued as I made childhood friends, gleaning something new from each one as I discovered how to listen. It matures still in my role as a boss, working to develop inclusive values and practices. As a community member, Ive grown to comprehend that I can and should question what has been made to seem normal. This path has not been perfectIve made a million mistakes, burned bridges, and thought I knew it all before I knew enough.

I had never considered opening a business until I considered opening one in Detroit. Every moment spent in this city surrounds me with kind, resilient people who collectively care for the greater good of our home. Detroit is too often advertised to outsiders as a blank slate, a wonderland where creative types can roam freely. The reality is that people have been making it work for a long time in Detroit, thriving against serious odds and protecting each other. My own familial ties to the region, coupled with this understanding, gave me the confidence I needed to succeed here.

I happen to come from a family of family businesses. My grandfather started a plywood company in Detroit in 1967, and my father still runs it today. As times have changed, the meaning of family has changed, expanded, and become more complex and more interesting. Family is not only loyalty to your kin. By its new definition, a family is a social unit of people who relate to each other. The ties that bind families together are greater than blood. Sister Pie is a family business.

It is our duty in this world to evolve, to always ask questions, and to push constantly against a system that values some lives more than others. As a young, white woman running a business in Detroit, theres no denying my privilege. Yet as a business owner, Im working to resist the patriarchal and capitalist norms that often define our work, our culture, and our world. I am surprised at how often the one Im up against is me.

Thank you for joining me on this adventure. If you have questions, ideas for pie, tips to share, or youd just like to say hi, come by the shop (8066 Kercheval, Detroit) or email me (). The door and inbox are always open.

Im convinced that anyone who says they dont like pie hasnt tasted a good crust. Honestly, whats not to like? Its flaky, buttery sheets of pastry enveloping tart, juicy fruit with just the right amount of sugar and spice and a little bit of fresh whip on top. Okay, not all pie is like that. But were here to help, so read closely and remember this: All good pie starts with good pie dough. Treat pie dough with the same respect that you would fleeting sour cherries, and youll be off to a great start. As I say to the students at our pie dough classes: Intention, action. Since we want to work quickly to avoid butter meltdown, Ive aimed to be clear about the what and the why of the directions youll read here. This will help you build that dough instinct and learn when youve gone too far (or not far enough).

The keys to mastery are easy enoughrepetition and patienceif youre game for practicing. Its only through spending an afternoon in your kitchen with a couple pounds of butter, making this recipe over and over again, that youll begin to develop the necessary intuition for crust-making success. From there, the possibilities are truly endless; we add seeds, cheese, alternative flours, herbs, and more to our standard recipe. This chapter walks you through the steps of making our classic All-Butter Pie Dough as well as a number of variations found in the recipes throughout this book. But first, the basics.

When making pie: Youll notice that there arent specific dough or roll-out instructions in each recipe, but instead we refer to the relevant pages from The Dough (). You can structure your approach to a recipe however you like, but I find it most helpful to have my dough made, rolled out, and blind-baked (when applicable) before starting on a filling.