Everyone loves to celebrate holidays, family gatherings, and social events with a delicious sweet slice of a pie. A typical pie is a baked pastry filled with either sweet or savory filling. It’s great fun to bake pies as they make us aesthetically please and happy. Pies are made with various delicious fillings, but there’s one thing in common. All the pies are circular always, and it seems that there is no other geometrical shape for them. So, did you ever think, why are pies round always?
Why do you always find all savory and sweet pies consistently round anywhere. Is there any good reason for their circular shape? Or can a pie be of squared shape? All this and many more about pies, coming right up. So, let’s find what’s happening out there.
Why Are Pies Round?
Pies are always round, and there’s 3 good reasons for that. Firstly, pies have always been circular, traditionally and historically. There may be a change in size or filling, but no one really questioned the shape of pies.
Secondly, round shape is best to bake as it cooks baked products more evenly and uniformly as compared to any other shape. And you can say, it bakes all sides of pies from outside in and you’ll get uniformly cooked pie on hands.
Moreover, the way in which you cut a typical pie may be a good reason. For instance, we usually cut pies from center to edges so everyone can get and enjoy tasty inside filling with a nice crunch of crust that’s not go well for star or square pies.
However, there is no hard rule to bake pies always circular instead of any other shape. It’s totally up to you what kind of pie you want to enjoy with available baking pans. As pies are circular because of the shape of a pie pan and nothing else.
Take A Look On The History Of Pies
The actual origin of nostalgic pies is still unknown, but it is strongly believed that ancient Greeks probably are inventors of round pies. At that time, they were named sweetmeats filled with fruit or meat pieces.
Moreover, a long time ago romans made a lattice top of pastry to cover filling that was baked to prevent dehydration. These ancient pies are similar to present lattice pies covered with top crust in order to make filling juicy.
In colder northern European territories, pies remained a traveling staple for people for years. After that, people began to make pies with savory filling inside, such as lamb, chicken, beef, and wild pigeons.
It is strongly believed that pilgrims brought savory and sweet pie recipes to America. And that’s where different types of pies were originated and became popular feasts. The only difference is that the ancient nostalgic pies were typically savory, but present pies are more towards the sweet side rather than savory.
Can You Bake A Squared Pie?
Yes, why not. There is no hard rule to bake only pies round. You can make pies of any shape, either triangular, rectangular, square, star, or heart shape. It’s totally up to you.
However, you can make a square pie, but there’s are chance of getting poor bottom crust with all burnt edges. And I know it’s a bad experience indeed.
Instead of a round pan, pie crust in a square pan is more exposed to heat on corners, and moisture evaporates much quickly from edges. On the other side, a circular pie pan ensures uniform cooking of pie crust with equally crispy dry sides.
In addition, a square pie is more towards a sweet cobbler or casserole rather than pie because one ordinarily expects pie to be round always.
Read Also: Does Cheesecake Have Cheese In It?
Types Of Traditional Pies
As you see here, the round pies are popular among people not matter it’s sweet or savory. Besides the filling flavors, pies also have a number of different types. So, let’s take a look at some traditional kinds of pies.
Single-crust pies only have a bottom crust to hold pie filling. Mostly, sweet pies are open-face or single-crust pies and sometimes known as tarts.
Double-crust pies have both bottom and top crust layers to hold the filling and keep it juicy. Such types of pies may be sweet or savory and are pretty common among people.
No-bake pies are refrigerated pies having bottom crust made of graham crackers with melted butter rather than dough. And pie filling is usually custard, ice cream, and frozen cream.
Lattice pies are the type of double-crust pies but with top decorative crust. Usually, the top crust is decorated with dough strips. And, these may be sweet and savory depending on the filling you use.
Does A Pie Need A Top Crust?
It’s all matter of appearance and the type of pie you want to bake. As you know, there are also open-faced pies with a single bottom crust that holds the filling.
Usually, double-crust pies contain top crust to give a definite shape to pie filling. Moreover, the top crust prevents inside filling ingredients from becoming too soggy or caramelized.
Typically, sweet fruity pies require both top and bottom crust to keep the pie in shape when it is being cut or sliced. Secondly, it allows the fruit to be slightly simmer and caramelized completely that tastes too luscious and mouth-watering.
By the way, sometimes savory pies also need the top crust to prevent the filling from drying or dehydrating. So, it totally depends on the pie filling, whether it requires top crust or not.
So, Why Are Pies Round Always!
Pies are always circular because you bake them as is. First, the round shape ensures equal heat distribution and thus leads uniform cooking of pie crust and filling. Secondly, the first traditional pie was circular, and so people consider pies to be round always and always.
But no one restricts you to bake pies as is. You can bake pies either triangular, rectangular, square, heart, or star shape. It’s up to you. So, explore new aspects of cooking and be creative.