Kalispell woman wins apple pie baking contest

“Holy moly, there’s some pretty ones,” judge Karen Strong said as she examined the field of 20 apple pies at the eighth annual Great American Pie Baking Contest. There were pies with precise lattice work and delicate leaves, and pies with crystallized sugar on top that seemed to sparkle. There were pies with traditional covered tops next to slim pies and round ones about to burst out of their pans.

As Strong and two other judges made their way down the line, sampling, commenting and taking notes, a small crowd began to form. Among them were the die-hard bakers; the ones who returned each year, no matter the type of pie selected — be it cherry, mixed berry or peach. And standing off to the side was Kalispell resident Melissa Friess and her 7-week-old daughter, Amiah, happily sleeping away against her mother’s chest. She’d been competing since 2011 when a friend told her about the pie baking contest. Those first few years, competitors were challenged to make huckleberry and then strawberry rhubarb. Friess admitted she “failed miserably” with her first pies, but returned year after year with hopes of victory.

“Every year the judges would comment on loving my crust, but I needed to perfect the filling,” she said.

Pies are judged on four primary components: shape, crust, filling and flavor and scored out of a possible 100 points. At Saturday’s judging, it took 45 minutes before judges were able to narrow the entries down to their final 10, which was followed by yet another round of sampling as pie-makers stood anxiously in wait.

When the judges placed a first-place purple ribbon atop Friess’ creation, she was overwhelmed with emotion.

“It felt a little bit surreal because I’ve tried so hard for so many years and then to see it, I started to tear up,” she said. “I’ve been praying the whole time about making this pie. I don’t want this to just be about making a pie — I want it to be something I can grow from.”

Friess assembled her pie the night before — but not without a few road blocks.

“It was a little challenging. I made the crust and fortunately that has to chill, so I was able to balance cooking and running to take care of my baby,” Friess said.

Amiah was “extra fussy” that night so it took the baker a total of five hours to complete her apple pie.

“I’m trying to cut apples holding a baby and spice them,” Friess said, chuckling. “I was thinking to myself, why am I doing this? But you know, I’m already this far into it and every year I feel like it’s a challenge.”

Her award-winning pie included a combination of golden delicious and granny smith apples, and of course, her secret crust.

“It was predominantly sour apples with a little bit of sweet to counterbalance it,” she said.

The filling was based off a recipe titled “Apple Pie by Grandma Ople” on AllRecipes.com, which boasts over 7,000 reviews.

“I took that recipe and built off of it. Because it had so many reviews I thought this is fail-proof. This is going to work — and I wanted to try it anyways,” Friess said. “I just added cinnamon to the apples and less of the caramel in the center because it would overflow. And I modified the apples because I didn’t want to use all granny smiths.”

Friess said it was also the first time she’d ever made the recipe and would have been happy with third place after coming in fourth for both peach and cherry.

“I’m in shock a little bit,” she said. “When I lost multiple times it would have been easy to throw in the towel but I thought I should just try to improve.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss may be reached ar 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.