WESTMINSTER, Md. — For the family behind the beloved Baugher’s Orchard and Farm in Westminster, this time of year is all about tradition and a lot of pie.
“I’m peeling our apples we grew here on the orchard for apple pie,” said Dottie Dunn, who helps manage the operation.
That peeling process is no small task. One machine, known as the “one-man show,” peels over 24,000 apples every week, coring and slicing each one into 18 pieces.
It’s a process rooted in nearly a century of family history. Baugher’s started out in 1904 as a working farm with an orchard, then Dottie’s mother began making pies in 1933.
“To get some sales out of the crops that we grew. It was hard times back in the ’30s,” Dunn explained. “We could sell fresh apples, but people really liked when they were in a pie.”
Romaine Baugher began going door-to-door selling homemade pies and the operation took off from there.
From scratch, every morning
Over in the bakery, the workday starts well before sunrise.
“My alarm is set at 4 o’clock in the morning,” said Jen Bishop, one of the bakers. “By 5 or 5:15, we get everything started and rocking and rolling.”
From the dough to the filling, every pie is made from scratch with flavors ranging from classic apple to peach, pumpkin, pecan, and blackberry.
“We have an oven that can bake up to 120 large pies at a time,” said Melissa Roelecke. “They know the quality, they know what they’re getting. Our pies are never frozen, they’re always fresh.”
That oven gets a workout during the holidays especially Thanksgiving week, when the bakery turns out more than 7,000 of their large pies.
For many of the bakers, working at Baugher’s is more than just a job.
“I grew up on the farm,” said Rhianon Pickett. “My adoptive dad used to run this bakery.”
“I’ve been going to Baugher’s since I was a kid,” added Bishop.
Turning “misfit” apples into sweet cider
At the cider mill, Dwight Baugher calls these “the land of misfit toy apples”, the ones that might not look perfect but still taste just as good. Workers carefully inspect the apples, tossing out the rotten ones and sending the rest down the line for washing and pressing.
“Cider is juice. That’s all it is, there’s no magic blend,” Baugher said. “We put as many varieties in here; Honeycrisp, Fuji, Jonathan, Gala, Reds, Golds, Jonagold. Good cider comes from as many varieties as you can put in.”
Using a stack of cheesecloths and plastic racks, the team presses up to 3,000 gallons of cider a day, using around 1,000 bushels of apples.
“It will go underneath the press, be hydraulically pressed upwards and smash all the juice out.” said Billy Stem from Baugher’s.
The result? A fresh cup of raw apple cider straight from the tank sweet, tart, and filled with tradition.
