Briana Carson of Crave Pie Studio was in her late 40s before she ate a pie with a baked-from-scratch crust. "It literally changed my life."
Carson didn’t grow up in a family of bakers, so the pies she’d eaten had all been from the grocery store. But then, her father’s wife came to Thanksgiving with a freshly baked apple pie, and Carson thought, “This is the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.”
Fast-forward through Carson’s time in culinary school as she prepared to leave her corporate career. Part of the program required her to bake an apple pie from scratch. “Now I knew what a real pie should taste like. I practiced different formulas for the pastry, different combinations of apples. I baked dozens of pies and gave them away. And what people told me was how much joy they got from those pies.”
So after falling in love with pie, Carson fell in love with sharing pie. Deciding there was a business opportunity in pie, she rented space in a commercial kitchen and started baking pies and selling them at fall festivals and the Suwanee farmers market. In July 2012, she opened her first shop, a painted red brick storefront on Duluth’s Main Street.
“I love the vision Duluth’s city planners have for downtown. It’s very walkable and there’s a charming town square where they hold concerts. I love that my shop is located in the heart of the community, on Main Street, where a pie shop belongs.”
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In December, she will open her second shop, in Alpharetta’s new City Center development. “It’s another place I think a pie shop belongs. I have a following in Alpharetta and Milton, customers who drive all the way to Duluth to purchase our pies. This seems like a natural progression.”
The first pie recipe she developed for her new business? Maple Pecan. Her husband Greg, who is from Georgia, insisted she offer a pecan pie. She added the maple as a nod to her own New England roots.
It takes a village to prepare 200 pies each day. Her team includes two bakers, Gen White and Courtney Mahady, who worked for Crave Pie, left for corporate jobs, and are now coming back to the pie business. “We have apprentice bakers, too, which is what Gen and Courtney were. I call them the ‘Mom Squad’ because they are women with older children who can come and help out when we need them. Altogether, it’s a cast of about 10.”
Carson loves sharing her love of pie with others, and she loves developing new pie flavors. She’s not abandoning the pies her customers have come to expect — Chocolate Bourbon, Lemon Chess, Dutch Apple — but she also wants to offer pies that are new and different. “That’s the part that keeps it creative and fresh for me.”
For The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she developed three pie flavors she calls “familiar but elevated.” You’ll find these on rotation at the shops through fall.
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CRAVE PIE TIPS FOR GREAT PIES
When making pie dough, keep ingredients very cold. Chill flour and butter in freezer and use ice-cold water.
When working with pie dough, work quickly. Return dough to refrigerator to chill, if needed, and then continue to roll out. Tears in the pastry can be patched with scrap pieces of dough instead of rerolling and overworking dough.
Use as little flour as possible when rolling out pie dough. Added flour will be absorbed into pie dough, and will end up making the crust tough. Use a bench scraper tool to lift dough off counter instead of adding excess flour.
After lining the pie plate, put unbaked pie in refrigerator or freezer to chill before putting into a preheated oven. The cold pastry entering a very hot oven will cause the fat to melt, and steam will create air pockets and layers of flakiness in the cooked pie crust.
Try to resist the urge to slice your pie as soon as you take it out of the oven. Baked pies, especially fruit pies, need time to cool and rest before they are sliced. For that perfect slice that holds its shape, cool your fruit pie 2-3 hours to allow the juice to reabsorb into the fruit where it belongs, and not be wasted in the pie pan. Other baked pies should be cooled at least an hour, or until no longer warm to the touch.
WHERE TO FIND CRAVE PIE
A fire that started in a neighboring restaurant closed down the Duluth Crave Pie location in October. While repairs are underway, Briana Carson and her team will be bringing pies to pop-up shops throughout the city. Visit Crave Pie on social media for where to find Crave Pie as well as information on events and pie happenings: instagram.com/cravepie/, facebook.com/CravePieStudio/.
RECIPES
The great thing about pie? It can all be done ahead. Make your pie dough and refrigerate or freeze it. Bake your pie shells and refrigerate before filling and baking. Bake your pies a day ahead and refrigerate before serving. No last-minute work except maybe whipping up a little cream.
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— Adapted from a recipe provided by Briana Carson of Crave Pie.
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Bourbon Maple Custard Pie
Custard pie is fine, but Briana Carson of Crave Pie adds a whole new level of flavor with maple syrup as a sweetener. Want to gild the lily? Use one of the bourbon-barrel aged maple syrups now on the market.
If you don’t have a brulee torch, you can still make a caramelized sugar topping by covering the edges of the pie with foil and sprinkling the top with sugar, then running it quickly under the broiler, just until the sugar begins to bubble and turn brown.
— Adapted from a recipe provided by Briana Carson of Crave Pie.
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Brown Butter Chess Pie
Browning the butter for this pie takes a traditional Southern favorite up a notch. Impress your guests even more with a bourbon whipped cream topping.
— Adapted from a recipe provided by Briana Carson of Crave Pie.
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Autumn Spiced Carrot Pie
Sure, you could serve sweet potato or pumpkin pie, but surprise your guests with this roasted carrot pie. Just as delicious, it’s sweet potato pie’s sophisticated cousin.
The filling in this recipe is very generous and may be just a bit too much for a 9-inch pie shell. Bake any extra filling in a ramekin and enjoy it as a cook’s treat.
— Adapted from a recipe provided by Briana Carson of Crave Pie.
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