#BWBehindTheScenes: How to bake the biggest pie in B.C.

So how does one go about baking a 10ft long huckleberry pie? How long does it take? Who bakes it? Well, let’s just takes a lot of sweat, a lot of skill, and a LOT of berries! Here’s the step-by-step breakdown of how you bake a 10ft long huckleberry pie:

Step 1:  Order the berries

Ever wondered what 50lbs of huckleberries looks like? Look no further. Our berries arrived frozen from a local forager in the Okanagan Valley five days before the festival. Our first step was to thaw them and get them ready to make into filling.

Step 2: Mix the filling

This year’s huckleberry pie filling was made from a mixture of 50lbs of huckleberries and 25lbs of blueberries - yep, that’s right, this pie contained 75lbs of fruit! The blueberries were added to bulk out the filling and lend their natural sweetness to the huckleberry blend. Plus, more blueberries means more blue smiles!

Step 3: Bake the crust

This year, our Clocktower Coffee Co. chef, Audrey, decided the only way to make a pie was to make a REAL pie. She was determined to use her famous piecrust recipe as featured at Blackforest Day Lodge and Clocktower Coffee Co. to give the pie an authentic flavour. Two days and 100 cups of flour later, Audrey had five perfect two-foot long pie shells baked that she would later fill and connect with lattice.

Step 4: Create the lattice

Ever so delicately, Audrey designed, cut, and baked the lattice that would serve as the beautiful decoration for the top of our glorious huckleberry pie. Coarse sugar was even sprinkled on top to add sparkle – because who doesn’t love a little sparkle?

Step 5: Pour the filling

The morning of the event, the kitchen filled with the smell of fresh berries as Audrey poured the filling into each pie shell. The sweet, syrupy mixture smelt so delicious, we were half-tempted to grab some spoons and dive in right then and there!

Step 6: Lay the lattice

Now this is where things got really interesting! Perhaps the most focused part of the giant pie-making process - we held our breath as each perfect lattice was laid down on the filling. The moment Audrey and her teammate flawlessly laid down the final lattice was met with great sighs of relief and even a few high fives!

Step 7: Serve up the goods

After four days, 75lbs of fruit, 100 cups of flour, and immeasurable anticipation – the “big pie” was wheeled out into the Village and served up to excited festival goers who had travelled all the way up the mountain for a slice of the biggest pie in B.C. Needless to say, this huckleberry masterpiece was a hit!

We’d like to make a very, very special shout out to Audrey, 

for her incredible patience, talent, and peerless pie-baking skills! This record-breaking moment could not have happened without her. And don’t worry - after all that hard work, the lady behind the pie got a nice big slice too!