Apple Fest Dishes Joy by the Slice
Published: Friday, September 24, 2021
One of the favorite things to do for many festival-goers last weekend in Nappanee was to catch a glimpse, or even a slice, of what's touted as the "Indiana's Largest Apple Pie."
That pie, measuring 7 feet in diameter, is an apple festival tradition that attracts many curious people.
Last Thursday, a half dozen volunteers worked meticulously to roll out the dough, pour the filling and then apply the lattice. Then, last Friday, after the pie was baked for 17 hours, a team of 12 men lifted the 600-pound pastry from the specially made oven and placed it in front of the large, street-facing window at El Cielito Lindo restaurant on West Market Street.
Those who wanted more than a quick glance could come inside and purchase a slice for $2. That's how the giant pie slowly disappeared as the festival approached its conclusion on Sunday. People just devoured it.
One of those was Mike Altman, a self-described apple lover from LaPorte. He and his wife Brenda had visited the festival before and decided to return this year just so they could behold the one-of-a-kind pie—and visit some garage sales.
Inside the restaurant, Mike asked if the pie qualified for the Guinness Book of World Records.
"I don't know about Guinness," said Deb Martin, one of the volunteers serving up the pie, "but it is Indiana's—and possibly the world's."
Martin and Mary Hochstetler, both of Nappanee, had the privilege of serving customers.
Hochstetler was one of the six women who worked four hours on Thursday to put all of the ingredients together. Her job was to roll out the dough.
"After four hours, it was pretty tiring," she said.
The 100 pounds of dough came in four big buckets. Hochstetler and the other volunteers grabbed a handful of dough, rolled it out and then handed it to the next person who positioned it on the baking sheet. Then someone took a rolling pin and smoothed it out even further.
After the apple pie filling was added, all 14 buckets' worth, the final step was applying the lattice. However, that step required some forethought, as the volunteers couldn't reach the center of the pie with their hands. So, they rolled the strips of dough on a PVC pipe and gradually unrolled it, with one person holding the PVC pipe on each side of the pie.
The pie was placed then baked in a special oven—used just one time a year—at 275 degrees F for one hour. After the first hour, the oven was turned off and the door was opened as the pie continued to bake for another 16 hours.
On Friday morning, 12 city workers removed the pie from the oven. But first they had to remove the back wall and all of the tables in order to carry the pie to the front of the restaurant.
Hochstetler said the pie was still warm when she served the first few pieces on Friday.
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