I heard circles are also related to pi but have not had the time to confirm yet.

There are some old 18th century pies they cooked in boiling water inside a bag which could be quite spherical. Townsends on youtube has some videos on it.

The first two things that spring to mind are pasties from the UK (which are not usually spherical but can get quite hemispherical), and the "UFO-Döner" from Germany (which are more oblate spheroids). Maybe by combining these ideas, your friend can get closer to their dream?

I wonder if they could look to dim sum for inspiration? A apple dumbling is basically just a round apple pie right?

> A friend of mine tries to bake a spherical pie for pi day (March 14) each year, with varying approaches (and levels of success).

Could also do it on pi approximation day (July 22), then one doesn't have to be so exact about it.

Heating the middle has to be a pain. And cutting it…