Easy as pie? With Jane Sherman, it is

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Jane Sherman who has made pies for restaurants, bake sales, and now her own baking business, doesn't keep her perfect pie crust recipe under wraps. She teaches community education classes for people seeking the holy grail of pies. [Click to enlarge]

She's that good.

At least that's what the bidders thought at the church auction where that banana cream pie was sold.

Whether at church auctions, bake sales or restaurants, the Le Mars woman is famous for her pies.

"Her pies are to die for," said Sheilah Stinton, who was taking Sherman's community education class last week through Western Iowa Tech on how to bake a perfect pie crust.

"They just melt in your mouth," Stinton said.

Although Sherman now teaches the occasional baking class and runs her own pie and cookie business out of her home, she didn't start baking pies until she was 24 years old.

It was just after she married and moved to Colorado.

Sherman's mom visited her for two weeks, and Sherman asked her to teach her the secrets to baking pie.

"By the time she left, I learned how to do it," Sherman said.

Eventually, Sherman and her husband at the time moved back to Hawarden, his home town.

She started becoming involved in the American Lutheran Church, and when they asked for donations for a special event, she decided to bake pies.

Her pies were an instant hit.

"I swear, it's a God-given talent," Sherman said.

Word got around, and eventually the owner of a Victorian restaurant in Akron hired Sherman to bake pies for the eatery daily.

"The extra income helped," Sherman said. "At night she would call me, and at 3 a.m. I'd get up and start making pies."

Some mornings, she'd make 10 pies, all in her own kitchen.

"I had it all figured out so I'd put a pie in the oven every 15 minutes so they'd get done in time," Sherman said.

She even used to render her own lard to use in the crust.

Lard, she said, is one of the secrets to a perfect pie.

In her crust, she uses a mixture of lard and shortening.

"Lard makes it flaky," she said. "I don't know what it is about lard, but it makes the crust pliable to work with and keeps it from falling apart."

Her recipe is simple -- five ingredients, four steps -- but it's the method that gets complicated.

She has taught about 50 people her way of making crust, but only years of making pies can develop the touch she has to know when to add a little water or when to add a touch of lard.

One of her secrets is to use only icy cold water in the dough.

"Once the dough gets warm, the shortening starts to break down," she said.

When she teaches community education classes on making perfect pie crusts or meringue pies, Sherman brings her own pastry blender and rolling pin.

"My rolling pin is as valuable to me as my underwear," she said with a laugh.

In her classes, Sherman tells her student to make sure they are in control when they flip the rolled out dough into the pie tin -- she prefers aluminum tins over glass because they're easier to handle.

"Remember, you're the boss," she tells students.

When it comes to fillings, Sherman makes all types of pies.

She recommends adding a splash of almond flavoring in cherry pies. For an extra touch, she brushes milk or egg white on top of pies and sprinkles raw sugar.

And after you take her class, she's only a phone call away.

"I tell people they can cal me if they have questions," Sherman said. "If you're in town, I will come over and I will help you."

When she's making a pie for herself, Sherman's personal favorite is coconut creme.

But the locally-famous pie lady has one dirty little secret -- she doesn't like apple pie.

"It's not worth the calories," she said. "I'd rather have a Hershey's candy bar."

Jane's Pie Crust

2 cups white flour

1 tsp. salt

2/3 cup Crisco

2-3 Tbsp. lard

3-5 Tbsp icy cold water

1. Place flour and salt in large bowl.

2. Cut in Crisco and 2 Tbsp. lard. Mixture should resemble small peas. If not, add another Tbsp. lard and cut in as well.

3. Sprinkle water in 1 Tbsp. at a time, flaking with a fork. Check after 3 Tbsp. to see if some of the dough will stick together to form a flat ball.

4. Roll out and bake as needed for type of pie. Bake fruit pies at 400 degrees for about an hour.