Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine, November 2022
Story and photos by Gail G. Collins
Life is full of contradictions, but much less flush with splendid pies. Take the refrain “as American as apple pie;” it belies the pastry’s primitive, roaming roots. The Egyptians began pie craft, but it was the Romans, who penned the first recipe for rye-crusted goat cheese and honey pie.
Originally, pies were savory, often made of fowl with legs hanging over the edge for use as handles. By the 14th century, “pye” was a popular word in Europe.
Fruit tarts or pies eventually made the pages of cookbooks in England in the 1500s as Queen Elizabeth I happily tucked into an inaugural cherry pie. The English settlers then imported pie to America, but notably, these early crusts served merely as vessels. Made in rectangular forms, they were known as “coffyns”—divulging their desiccated function over flavor.
As the American Revolution cut ties with Britain, a more perfect union of states was formed alongside the desire for a more perfect crust.
Any pie worth its filling is fashioned within an alliance of a tender and flaky shell. Delicate, yet strong, the crust restrains the goodness, yet yields to the fork. Hands down today, the most popular pie is apple, so coming full circle, perhaps, the phrase rings true: As American as apple pie.
In 2019, more than 50 million Americans bought frozen pie crusts, and more than 40 million opted for the refrigerated product. The legacy of handcrafted pies is seriously at risk.
Without crust, we have compote or custard, but not pie. Charles Lewis learned such truths making pies at Marie Callender’s while attending culinary school in Las Vegas. In 1999, his trademark pies revived Dot’s Diner in Bisbee. After a move to Tehachapi, California, Lewis opened TehachaPIE, but locals simply called him Pie Guy. Always cutting edge, Lewis delivered those Cali pies on a skateboard, but authorities informed him it was illegal. A shame—it certainly was fantastic, just as pie is fantastic. Arriving in Flagstaff, Lewis merged his moniker with pie-making to form a craft business.
Pointing to a rack of hand-pressed crusts, Lewis says, “You won’t find this anywhere else—pies are dying hard. Manufactured in commercial settings with too little lard, they sell for $9.”
Pie Guy’s Pies are hand-crafted, custom-ordered confections of fruit, cream or custard, selling for $13 to $15. Fruit fillings range from apple, apricot (in season), blueberry, peach, rhubarb and cherry to classic mixtures, like strawberry-rhubarb, plus novel blends of blackberry-raspberry, called Bisbeeberry, or Chuckberry’s blackberry-blueberry. Cream pies include: banana, chocolate, coconut, German chocolate, lemon cream or meringue and peanut butter chocolate. Specialty pies headline custard, pumpkin and pecan. Gluten- or sugar-free and vegan options are available.
Pies are available for order a day or two in advance, but a selection of favorites are on offer at outlets around town, like convenience stores, and five businesses, such as Miz Zip’s, and of course, the Farmers Market. Look for the Pie Guy’s Pies banner—Pie that takes the cake made in Flagstaff.
Lewis’ homestead shop is kitted out with three ovens, rolling carts, refrigerators, walk-in freezer, professional mixer, dough presser, multiple workspaces and a sink. Activities are staged from peeling peaches to weighing pecans to custom-blending pumpkin mix. It’s the happy, busy place of a man, whose positive outlook consistently lands him on his feet.
“All I knew was the restaurant business,” Lewis says, listing jobs waiting tables out of high school, bartending, and then, being thrust to the back of the house to make pies, where a business idea smacked him in the face. Lewis is a creative sort, who doesn’t copy franchise recipes, but borrows heavily on expertise gained.
Making a good crust should be “as simple as pie,” blending water, salt, flour and shortening. The ratios, temperatures and handling, however, make the difference. Lewis uses 75-percent shortening for fruit pies and 60-percent for pecan, custard and pumpkin to prevent leakage. More flour and less fat create a mealy crust, yet commercial scale pressing equipment supports only lower volume ratios. Pie Guy presses each glossy crust by hand.
“Flagstaff is a beautiful retail market,” Lewis says. His devotion is evident in his honor system for drive-by pick-ups, PIEWGN license plate and processes.
Do you know what makes a pie crust rise? Steam causes it to burst in the oven. When mixing dough, dissolve salt into the water first; don’t measure it into the flour. Lewis believes such pie-making practices are on the line—underappreciated.
Pie is an American standard. Did you know there is an American Pie Council? Surely, with their support and our Pie Guy, quality isn’t “pie in the sky,” but our hope and thanksgiving this holiday season is for splendid pie. NAMLM