Pi shaped pie pan.

October 4, 2005 9:00 PM

I am looking for a pie pan shaped like Pi. I need to make a pie for an upcoming pie party and I thought it would be fun to do it in the shape of the Pi symbol. If I can't find a pan I'll probably cut the shape of Pi into the top, but I was hoping one exists. However, Google hasn't turned up anything yet. Anyone know where I can find one online?
posted by mto to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

I've never actually tried this, but: could you make your own pi/pie pan using the heavy aluminum from the bottom of cheap supermarket turkey-roasting pans as a form?

Cut the bottoms of the roasting pans into strips of equal width, then "trace" each side along a large cut-out of pi you're using as a model. Put it in a flat-bottomed baking pan, then use wadded up aluminum foil or the left-over sides of the pans to help it keep its shape while you put the crust & filling in.
posted by soviet sleepover at 9:14 PM on October 4, 2005

Use a square pan, then explain to the others:
"This Pie are squared".

(sorry, I can't claim credit. A friend said it first)
posted by Goofyy at 9:25 PM on October 4, 2005

There's this, at least.
posted by interrobang at 9:42 PM on October 4, 2005

I found this crazy thing; perhaps you could dig deep into the page's root directory, find an email address, and ask him/her how they did it.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:52 PM on October 4, 2005

We are having a pie party at work on Monday. What an excellent, nerdy, wonderful idea.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 10:17 PM on October 4, 2005

Here's a guess for one that Dr Wu found:
Draw a picture of the pi symbol and lay it under a glass pie dish.
Crumple up aluminium foil loosley to fill the 'spaces' where the Pi isn't. Cover the crumbled foil with smooth foil, spray it with non-stick spray.
Then you could drape the pastry in the pi shape, fill and top and bake as usual.

Or you could try this approach if you had some number-shaped cookie cutters.
posted by slightlybewildered at 10:27 PM on October 4, 2005

Successfully removing the cake from such a pan could prove to be a challenge. I recommend you just make yourself a sheet cake and cut out pieces which you can stick together with frosting to form pi.
posted by caddis at 3:07 AM on October 5, 2005

You could pre bake the shell to use a gingerbread house approach. slightlybewildered's crumpled foil would come in handy for reinforcing the structure. I don't know what you could use for caulk though...

Actually... I think slighlybewildered's idea is better, except you should use a big square glass dish so you have lots of room to work and the sloped edges don't get in your way as much.
posted by Chuckles at 7:11 AM on October 5, 2005

If you really wanted to make a geek joke, make a pie in a pan shaped like e.
posted by eriko at 7:37 AM on October 5, 2005

If you wanted to get lazy about it, or if you get desperate, just use a little extra pastry dough to add the pi symbol to the top of a regular round pie. I think this might also make for a tastier, flakier pie.
posted by Sara Anne at 8:21 AM on October 5, 2005

Julia Child has a method for doing something like this in The Way to Cook, where she bakes a circular quiche shell upside-down on the bottom of a cake pan.

You could do a similar thing where you bake the pie shell upside-down over some pi-shaped form (crumpled aluminum foil), then flip the shell over, take out the foil, and fill the pie.
It goes without saying that this should be done on a parchment-lined sheet pan, for ease of moving it in and out of the oven.

I think a traditional, syrupy fruit filling would put too much strain on the edges of the pi (pie?) shell, and would take too long to bake, burning your crust. So I vote for some kind of viscous, custardy filling which would require minimal baking (if any). To further ensure that no disasters occur, I would support the sides of the pi form with crumpled foil or plastic wrap while the filling is setting.

In order to increase the tensile strength of the dough, Julia adds an egg to the standard pie dough formula. (3.5 cups flour/ 1 large egg).

Good luck! I'd love to see pictures if it turns out well.
posted by Lycaste at 8:46 AM on October 5, 2005

Can't find the image, but I saw a Pi pie with the numbers around the edge of the pie, and the Pi symbol cut out of the center. mmmmm cherry pi pie.
posted by theora55 at 8:47 AM on October 5, 2005

theora55: was it the pi pie on flickr?
posted by fourstar at 12:45 PM on October 5, 2005

You could bake a cake shaped like pi and get extra points for being very clever.
posted by electroboy at 3:27 PM on October 5, 2005