BUHL — With just a week before Labor Day, and the traditional end of summer fun, the Suttons could have spent their final August weekend up in the mountains, a camp set up lakeside.

Instead, the Buhl family stayed home while mom Laura Fall-Sutton spent much time in the kitchen preparing pies for the Twin Falls County Fair.

Her hard work paid off. Three of her pies, a two-crust raisin pie, single crust lemon meringue and a gluten-free key-lime pie with pretzel crust, earned best of class ribbons.

The children, Jane, 7, and KC, 9, didn’t seem to mind. In fact, they happily helped pick plums from the family’s small orchard and gathered eggs from the chicken coop — a few of the ingredients needed for Fall-Sutton’s pies.

“She makes the very best pies,” KC said, rubbing his stomach and licking his chops. “My favorite is her lemon meringue; I made her make it for my birthday, instead of a cake.”

Fall-Sutton counts her entries off, using her fingers. The total: eight, including an entry into the County Commissioner Peach Pie Contest on Sept. 1.

A lemon and grater sit on a small table set up next to the door, ready for use.

“I use fresh ingredients, local products as much as possible,” Fall-Sutton said, as she grates the lemon’s skin into a neat pile of zest. “That’s my secret for the meringue pie — chopping the zest into very fine pieces.”

After zesting, she slices the lemon in half, juices it and sets it aside, moving on to preparing the peach pie.

Historically, her peach pie would be made entirely from fruit harvested from one of the family’s 40 fruit trees, but this year she only got two peaches; her fruit succumbed to the same deep freeze in the spring that decimated the area’s fruit harvest.

“The best peach pie is one made from all Red Haven peaches,” she said, holding her prized pair of perfectly ripened and round peaches. “After everyone lost their fruit I feel kind of lucky that these two made it through and they’re definitely going in.”

The first (and likely the most important) step in all pies is preparing the crust. She said it’s best to clean a space before starting, and having ingredients measured and within arm’s reach will keep the process moving smoothly.

“I think you’re less likely to make a mistake if you are fully prepared beforehand,” she said.

Her crust recipe is pretty basic, consisting of flour, shortening, sugar and cold water. When properly prepared, the crust will be light and flaky; using cold ingredients helps do just that, Sutton-Fall said, and some people even cool their rolling pin.

She mixes the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then adds the shortening and lastly, folds in water. Once the dough has a crumbly, pea-sized texture it’s ready to roll out.

She lays a piece of parchment paper on the table and sprinkles flour down before placing her bulk of dough down.

With a rolling pin, she turns the ball into a thin layer of dough.

She grabs her glass Pyrex pie pan and after tenderly lifting the dough from the parchment paper, lays it into the pan. She presses together the small tears in the dough around the edges and then cuts the excess, making sure to leave enough to create a tapered and decorative edging.

Gingerly, she presses the dough into the pan and then begins shaping the edge. For family-eaten pies, she may not take the tedious care of creating the grooved edge, but for the fair, appearances count.

A fork easily pokes holes on the bottom of the crust and then a reused piece of aluminum foil is placed on top of the dough. The foil’s weight keeps the dough from rising off the pan bottom, bursting in the oven’s heat and losing form.

After fifteen minutes in the preheated oven, Sutton-Fall’s crust is ready for filling.

Jump a few days forward and Delores Mills is busy baking a peach pie for that evening’s county commissioner pie contest.

Like many bakers, the Filer resident restates that a pie’s quality starts in the crust. Using a recipe similar to Falls-Sutton’s, but with a dash of vinegar, Mills breaks a chunk from the dough made the night before.

“I think the flavor sets in if the dough is let to cool in the fridge overnight. Plus, cool dough makes flakier crust,” Mills said.

Warm dough, coupled with overworking, leads to dense, hard crust, as Mills is well aware.

In her early years as a married woman Mills’ pie crusts were hard, very hard. She came across what she calls her “Favorite Pastry” crust recipe decades ago and never looked back.

Mills said, “This recipe makes dough that isn’t as finicky. I can work it a bit and it doesn’t seem to mind.”

When rolling her dough, Mills doesn’t use wax or parchment paper. Instead, she simply sprinkles a thin layer of flour onto a clean counter and rolls the dough on that.

She doesn’t fret over what the commissioners, the judges in the annual pie contest, will like either. Tastes seem to change yearly and with commissioner turnover.

Years ago, one commissioner loved soggy pies, just like those his mother made, but other judges typically like the simple farm-style pies of their youth.

Like this year’s first place commissioner contest winner, Karen Grubb of Twin Falls, Mills always adds a few pats of butter on top of her fruit filling before placing the top crust into position.

“It really adds flavor to both the top crust and the pie filling,” Grubb said. “While some recipes call for it, others don’t, but I add the butter anyway.”

Another secret shared by Grubb and Mills: turning down the oven temperature after the pie has had time to set under higher heat.

If the recipe calls for 400 degree heat, Grubb allows the pie about 30 minutes and then another 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Grubb has entered the commissioner-judged contest four years in a row. The first year her peach pie took third place, the next year she won first place with a cherry pie and then first place with an apple pie.

This year, with the rotation back to peach, Grubb entered the same peach pie recipe as the first year and was delighted when she retained her first-place winning streak.

She said her pie wasn’t real fancy, just a simple peach pie.

“Crust has a lot to do with it,” Grubb said, emphasizing the need for cold water and shortening.

The number one secret to producing award winning pies?

Not being afraid to enter in the first place.

Blair Koch may be reached at 316-2607 or blairkoch@gmail.com.

BUTTERMILKPIECRUST

Courtesy Diana Blaehr

2 cups Crisco shortening

1 cup butter, soft

1 tablespoon salt

6 cups flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Mix shortening, butter, salt, and flour with pastry cutter, until crumbly. Mix buttermilk and vegetable oil together in separate bowl, then fold into flour mix until it forms a ball. Separate into six evenly sized balls. Use fresh or freeze. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

STRAWBERRYCREAMCHEESEPIE

Courtesy Diana Blaehr

5 3-ounce packages of Philadelphia cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Powdered sugar (to taste)

Two pints heavy whipping cream, made into whipped cream (add 2 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat in chilled glass bowl until peaks form)

Fresh strawberries, washed, quartered (enough to top pie)

Two packages Danish Dessert, strawberry flavor (Follow directions on package but don’t make until ready to pour over strawberries on pie)

Beat cream cheese until soft, add vanilla and whipped cream slowly and then powdered sugar, to taste. Pour mixture into baked crust and top with strawberries. Pour Danish Dessert evenly over strawberries.

Refrigerate pie 4-5 hours before serving.

FAVORITEPASTRY

Courtesy Delores Mills

1 3/4 cup shortening or 1 1/2 cup lard

4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon vinegar

Cut shortening into flour, salt and sugar until the size of large peas. Beat egg slightly, mix with water and vinegar. Pour over flour mixture and mix lightly. Set to rest for 15 minutes before rolling out for crust.

DUTCHAPPLEPIE

Courtesy Delores Mills

3 cups sliced apples

1 unbaked pie shell

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 beaten egg

1 cup light cream, or canned milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup chopped nuts

1 tablespoon butter

Place sliced apples in pie shell. Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon together. Combine egg, cream and vanilla. Add sugar mixture and mix well. Pour over apples. Sprinkle with nuts and dot with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until apples are done.