Frazzled, flustered, but quite a fine pie: Bake 425

Have you ever called a restaurant/eatery to place an order and been asked to call back because they were too busy? I certainly had not ... until we called Bake 425 last week to order a pie. Frazzled, frenzied, flustered ... I'm not sure which one best describes the employee we encountered there. After putting me on hold, he returned to the line with a million huffs and puffs and abruptly asked if I could call back in five minutes because he was just too busy at the moment. Normally, I would have been put off and selected a different establishment for my business, but I had been wanting to try Bake 425 for a while and on this day, we actually had the time to stop there (as it's a bit out of our way) on the way home from an outing to Strasburg with the nibble.

Bake 425 is an interesting concept from the owners of local Peace-A-Pizza chain: similar to a Mom's Bake at Home, but with completely organic, seasonal ingredients. After my five-minute wait, I called back and ordered a large Pepperoni. The guy was still quite flustered and quoted me a time of 35 minutes, which is a bit shocking for a pie that isn't even getting baked. But we headed over and decided to go inside after about 20 minutes.

In all fairness, Frazzled Freddy was the only employee there, and I do remember, from my many years is restaurant/food service, that being short-staffed really sucks, especially if you are trying to do a good job. But there was only one other customer in the store and the phone didn't seem to be ringing off the hook, so I'm not exactly sure why he was so overwhelmed. He did apologize for the delay and offered us extra pepperoni to compensate. Saucy naturally asked him to throw some extra sauce on there as well. After a few more minutes in the bright, modern store, Fred managed to get us our pie before the nibble re-colored the waiting bench with the crayons they luckily had out for customers.

After only two minutes in the oven, there was an unbelievable aroma emanating from the pie. I do believe the baking instructions need a bit of a tweak though, because the center of the pie was still not fully cooked after 15 minutes (the max time on the instructions). Perhaps this was partly due to the extra sauce. But since the sauce was highlight of the pie, I sure am glad we had extra.

It was of the thick, savory variety, with a strong tomato taste and just the right amount of sweetness (not as sweet as the Peace-A-Pizza sauce, for those of you familiar with it). The cheese was flavorful enough to stand out from the other ingredients, and just the right amount. The pepperoni was good, but nothing to write home about and paled in comparison to your typical uncured pepperoni flavor (Newman's and Whole Foods' come to mind).

Now the crust. The texture was decent - crispy yet still foldable. But the taste, eh. A bit Ritz cracker-esque when tasted solo. Luckily, the pie was so jammed with toppings that there wasn't even much of a naked edge.

All-in-all, we thoroughly enjoyed the pie and will probably try Bake 425 again. The nibble even asked for seconds, which is a rarity these days, since there are so many more important things to do than sitting at a dinner table.

If you decide to give it a go, be sure to look for a Groupon Now deal - we saved $5, bringing our total to a little over $8.

Bake 425
1012 West Lancaster Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA  19010
610-525-6425

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The Pizza Project
Just a nibble: http://twitter.com/ThePizzaProject
Single slice: http://www.facebook.com/ThePizzaProject
The full pie: http://thepizzaproject.blogspot.com/