Wenatchee Bakers Try For World Record Pie

Keith Williams found a way to get recognition for his hometown as well as raise money to support the North Central Washington Museum where he works.

He and museum volunteers are going to try to break the world record for the largest apple pie ever baked. Chelsfield, England, holds the record, according to The Guinness Book of Records.

“We are the apple capital of the world,” Williams said, referring to the city of Wenatchee’s slogan. “The record’s got to be in the United States. What is more American than mom and apple pie?”

The pie, which will be more than 40 feet in diameter and feed 70,000 people, will be made with more than 27,000 pounds of apples and its streusel topping will require 427 pounds of brown sugar, 595 pounds of flour and 52 pounds of cinnamon.

The museum is counting on volunteers from nonprofit groups and businesses to form teams to help with the baking. Teams will get pledges per pound of apples they peel, and 70 percent of those funds will go to the museum. The remaining 30 percent will go to the nonprofit group of the team’s choice.

Most of the pie ingredients will be donated. Top Foods has agreed to make the bottom crust in its bakery, using 5,300 pounds of flour and 4,200 pounds of shortening, mixed with almost 1,200 pounds of water and 160 pounds of salt.

A local architect and structural engineer have designed the pie pan, and Stock Steel of Spokane is donating the steel that will be used to build a huge oven to cook the pie on Aug. 16.

Wenatchee previously held the record for the world’s largest apple pie with a 2,200-pound pie that was 10 feet in diameter. It was baked in 1938.