In honor of pi day - how I make pies, and some pictures of pies past

Baking pies is one of those things that everybody has their own way of doing it. Here's mine:

If I want to make a pie, I usually start by milking the cows. I say usually because I make cream pies sometimes with graham crackers crust, and those are a little different, or I use lard when I have my own, but that is not always the case. I do prefer butter crusts above all the others.

After milking I keep the milk in gallon jars in the fridge for at least 24 hours, for the cream to separate, then I skim it off the top and into a new container, maybe another jar, or sometimes directly into the butter maker jar. I use a 2 1/2 gallon electric churner, I can fill it with a gallon cream and I get about 2 lb of butter. The most important thing in butter making at home, in my opinion, is the temperature of the cream. It's best if it's as close to 60 F as possible. Washing the butter is also important, as is saving the whey and make buttermilk:). One of the yummiest ingredients to make pancakes with.

I then make a pie crust out of 315 gr flour, 225 gr butter, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, and about half cup ice water, using a pastry cutter and my hands, mix it all into a ball. Cut it in two, one for each the bottom and the top crust. At this point, if I need to prepare the filling or something else, I would put the dough in the fridge, otherwise I start rolling the crusts right away. The bottom one, put in in pie dish, fill it with the pie filling, usually fruit like apples, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and so on depending on the season or what I have in the freezer. Put on the top crust, seal, maybe sprinkle some sugar on top, or maybe an egg wash, and in the oven it goes.

Here are the pictures that go with the blurb: