Zoey Fife’s fresh peach pie is pretty much perfect.

The top and bottom crusts are both flaky and nicely browned, and the kicker is — unlike some pies — it’s not too sweet. The natural sweetness of the peaches shines through.

But then, her pies ought to be good. They’re award winners.

Zoey, 13, placed first overall in the President’s Pie Baking Contest last year at the Douglas County 4-H and Future Farmers of America Free Fair.

It was her peach pie that took top honors.

“I brought it in while it was still warm when they judged, and I got the freshest peaches I could find. I got them at Dillons, so they were from a supermarket, but they were nice peaches,” says Zoey, a Vinland Valley 4-H Club member.

“There was a recipe in a book that my mom had always used, and I used it when I had to make a crust.”

On the way to winning the contest — and a $100 prize — Zoey, who will be an eighth-grader at Baldwin Junior High School this fall, beat out experienced competitors who’d been baking pies for many years.

But her ability at a young age doesn’t necessarily surprise Susan Krumm, Extension agent in family and consumer science with K-State Research and Extension-Douglas County.

She’s seen lots of 4-H’ers excel at baking through the years.

“Zoey’s not the first 4-H’er I’ve known who makes really quality pies. They know how to do it, and they like it. Talent at baking can come at any age,” Krumm says.

Nor is the youthful baker the only one in the Lawrence area who can bake an award-winning pie.

Zoey Fife, 13, a member of the Vinland Valley 4-H Club, won the Presidents Pie Baking Contest at the Douglas County Fair. Fife's peach pie, shown above, is one of her favorites.

Such as Aliene Bieber, a Lawrence resident who’s won her share of honors in the President’s Pie Baking Contest at the Douglas County Fair.

That particular contest — the winner of which is ultimately judged by the president of the fair board — awards first, second and third prize to the best pies brought in each day of the fair, as well as a grand-prize winner at the fair’s end.

“I’m 71, but I still make pies. I make really good apple pie that has usually always gotten a first (prize) at the fair. Apricot usually gets a first — cherry, blackberry, raspberry,” Bieber says.

“It’s just old hat to me.”

Tender, flaky and evenly browned

Krumm knows an award-winning pie when she sees one.

She has assisted in judging the President’s Pie Baking Contest, as well as training volunteers how to use the contest’s product evaluation score sheet to grade the entries.

A range of criteria is important in judging pies, but a good crust is critical to success.

“The pies are judged on appearance, texture, tenderness and flavor. A good pastry (crust) is flaky, but its surface has a rough, blistered appearance rather than a smooth, firm one. It is tender, easily cut with a fork, but not so tender that it crumbles when served. It needs to be golden-brown in color around the edges, but lighter brown on the bottom and top crust,” Krumm says.

“Of course, the flavor should be pleasing and delicate. When you cut the pie, the filling should hold together; it should not just pour all over the pan. We don’t want it too stiff. The flavor needs to be good, not too sweet or too sour. It shouldn’t be starchy.”

The way a pie looks is a key factor, too.

Crimping the top crust, or adding decoration such as lattice strips or cut-outs in different shapes, are all methods that bakers use to enhance the appearance of their pies.

Bieber has plenty of experience trying to succeed in all these categories and produce great all-around pies. She agrees with Krumm that the crust is often considered paramount.

“The flakiness of the crust — it needs to be tender, flaky and evenly browned. It needs to be evenly browned on the top and on the bottom, for a two-crust pie,” Bieber says.

“A pie’s supposed to smell good, taste good and look good. I’ve been doing it for a long time. I think I could make a pie almost with my eyes closed. But for some people it is hard. You’ve got to learn how to get a good crust and how to roll it.”

Vinegar, skim milk improve recipe

Any accomplished pie baker will tell you there are tricks of the trade that will elevate your pie above the ordinary.

Melissa Colgan, 20, is a former member of the Clinton Eagles 4-H Club and a past winner of the President’s Pie Baking Contest.

The secret to a blue-ribbon pie?

“It’s probably a combination of making sure that you have your filling sweet enough, that you have a flaky pie crust and that you bake it correctly,” says Colgan, a 2001 graduate of Lawrence High School who’s earning a bachelor’s in food science at Kansas State University.

“You have to make sure that you don’t work with the pie crust too much, because the more you work with it, the tougher it gets. And we usually find that the vinegar in the recipe I use helps make it flaky.”

Like Zoey, it was Colgan’s fresh peach pie that won over the judges at the Douglas County Fair. One year she was chosen as the 4-H nonperishable food items grand champion, as well as the overall winner of the President’s Pie Baking Contest.

Bieber has a tried-and-true baker’s technique she likes to employ to get the best results.

“I use the butter-flavored Crisco and skim milk (in the crust) instead of water. That helps the crust to brown better, and it also makes it more tender. And I put a little sugar in my pie crust, or a little Karo Syrup, to help it hold together,” she says.

Zoey planned to enter the President’s Pie Baking contest at the fair this year, too. She’s going to go with a different kind of fruit pie.

“My grandmother (Velma Fife) goes up to Montana to pick huckleberries every year, and so I’m going to make a huckleberry pie. I’m going to use her recipe,” she says.