BUTTER(MILK) ME UP

ph via sugar pie farmhouse

If someone were to offer you a slice of Buttermilk Pie, and you'd never tasted this Southern tradition, your first reaction might be, "Ugh." But this melt-in-your-mouth, custard-like pie comes out of the oven creamy, sweet, and with a slightly tart and tangy flavor. In addition to the star ingredient, buttermilk, the basic filling consists of eggs, melted butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla; and sometimes nutmeg or lemon juice. The trick to a successful pie is not to remove it from the oven prematurely; the pie should be firm, the top golden brown, and the crust slightly browned. Buttermilk pie is kin to chess, vinegar, and pecan pies, the degree of separation just one or two ingredients. I came across a dozen or so variations on the Buttermilk Pie recipe, some dating back to 1867, on Barry Popik's blog The Big Apple. Be sure to check it out.

This particular recipe for Buttermilk Pie comes from Sugar Pie Farmhouse. It has just the right amount of sweetness and a refreshing hint of fresh lemon.

Sister Liza Jane's Southern Buttermilk Pie

Pat-in-the-Pan Crust:

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

3 tbsp cold milk

2/3 cup oil (vegetable or canola)

1. Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl until blended.
2. Add wet ingredients and stir gently until the dough forms a ball (do not over mix).
3. Put dough into a pie pan and pat it thin and flat to conform to the shape of the pan.
4. Crimp the edges.
5. Make filling.

Filling:

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 tbsp flour

4 eggs, whisked

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 stick butter, melted and cooled (1/2 cup)

1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

pinch of grated nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 425º F.
2. In a mixer, combine the flour and sugar.
3. Stir in the eggs, and buttermilk.
4. Add the cooled melted butter, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
5. Add a pinch or two of grated nutmeg.
6. Pour into the unbaked pie shell.
7. Put the pie in the center of the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350º F and bake an additional 40 minutes.
8. Cool, then keep chilled.

FREAKY FRIDAYS

ph: sharon montrose

It appears 2012 not only has three Friday the 13's but each of them are exactly 13 weeks apart. So if you suffer from either friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia, I'd say you're SOL. I'm not particularly superstitious about Friday the 13th, however, I do believe bad luck exists if it happens to have a tag-along named 'self-fulfilling prophecy'. When I was a teenager there was a short period when I became convinced our family was cursed with bad luck. If you have enough folks (namely my siblings) telling you this, repeatedly, eventually you start to believe it. It all culminated down to the day we traced a noxious odor to our backyard and found vultures perched on our roof. Now, if that wasn't a bad omen, I didn't know what was. It was only later I realized that in life we make our own luck, good or bad. The only difference between the two is the way we choose to view any given situation. But I will admit this, if you pander to the idea of bad luck and are continually afraid to tempt fate, it's astonishing how quickly things start to spiral downhill with the first push.

LOST-AND-FOUND

Don't you love finding surprises in unexpected places? Like, say, forgotten money in a coat pocket, a piece of jewelry in an overstuffed drawer, or an old keepsake in a throw away shoebox. But what about when you find an old photo, drawing, or handwritten note in someone else's book? A book from the library or one you picked up for a few cents at a yard sale or junk shop. You're discovering a remnant from someone's past, a tiny glimpse into a stranger's soul. Sometimes you encounter something quite extraordinary, others something more practical. Here's a pie crust recipe written on an index card found in a 1902 copy of "Old Sweetheart of Mine" by James Whitcomb Riley.

Pie Crust: 3 c flour, 1 c lard, salt, 5 tbl water, 1 tbl vinegar, 1 egg

photo via handwrittenrecipes

COLLECTIVE WILD

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

murmuration: flock of starlings; beautiful/wild

A RECIPE FOR DREAMING

via pinterest

This morning I woke up thinking about dreams. Not the kind you have when you're asleep but the ones you create when you're wide awake... when your heart swells for something beyond the ordinary. I've always been a daydreamer, stealing moments to imagine myself in a million different scenarios, usually with me playing the starring role. I realize I haven't done much of that lately. With every second of my day accounted for, even before I've had my first cup of joe, it seems almost silly to waste precious time drifting off to la-la land. But dreaming is far from frivolous, it's a necessity, as essential as food because it feeds our soul.

As kids our imaginations were limitless. We hadn't learned to edit ourselves or been told some things were impossible. I think that's why kids have the capacity to experience pure joy. They can jump into each new experience with reckless abandon, without expectations, and appreciate any given moment as independent of anything else. Imagination allows us to believe in infinite possibilities, and possibilities enable us to spin bigger dreams for ourselves. And then at some point we're told "stop dreaming and and pay attention" or "don't do this or that." We learn to stifle our true spirit out of fear or disappointment. But every time we allow ourselves to dream, we re-connect with our inner selves, discover our true calling, and open ourselves up to possibilities, which ultimately lead us to achieve more. So go ahead, what are you going to dream up today? All it takes is a handful of imagination, a pinch of possibility, and a dash of gumption. Mixed with the the right amount of elbow grease, we can whip up a recipe for our best possible life yet.

"If we don't take our imaginations beyond the norm, we deny the greatest gift we humans have been given. Putting our imagination into action to find new ways to go is synonymous with the act of dreaming. It is essential to inwardly visualize the destination, to clearly see the dream. To become a dreamer you need only to ask permission from yourself. Remember, whatever the dream, no matter how daring or grand, somebody will eventually achieve it. It might as well be you." - Bryce Courtenay, A Recipe for Dreaming

A BAG OF TRICKS & APRON STRINGS

I'm always trying to track down the perfect apron. Believe me, it's not as easy as you think, which is why to date I don't own one. I once had a collection of vintage aprons, mostly feminine concoctions that were more frilly than functional. I'm not sure what happened to them. I've moved so many times, things have simply disappeared over the years. When it comes to baking, I prefer utilitarian aprons in soft, washable fabrics. And they have to be full-length as opposed to the waist aprons. I find ingredients end up on me just as much as they do in the mixing bowls, anywhere from my chin to my knees (don't ask.) I've always loved vintage fabrics, especially old french ticking, flour & feed sack cloths, and soft cotton prints. There's something about aged fabric washed a hundreds times, if not more... I like the idea of wearing something that was once lovingly worn or handled by someone else. It's more than just nostalgia. Sometimes, it feels like time traveling.

"cotton bags give you tested sewing fabric"

Back in the depression few things were discarded. The motto was "Repair, reuse, make do, and don't throw anything away." Big sacks of flour or livestock feed were repurposed by farm women and sewn into clothes, aprons, tea towels, diapers, table cloths, and more. The companies that created the flour and feed sacks soon caught on and started creating new prints as incentive for the women to buy more feed. Magazines and pattern companies soon began offering patterns that took advantage of the feedsack prints. A 1942 estimate showed that 3 million women and children of all income levels were wearing print feedbag garments.

I really like both the style and fabric on this french linen apron from alder & co. It comes in several colors but the rose is my favorite. It'd be even more perfect if it came in some of my favorites fabrics: vintage ticking, sackcloth, or cotton/muslim paisley print. Even though it's a waist apron I also love this sweet paisley apron with red piping. I heart most things with piping.

1. alder & co. french linen apron 2. via thefirstfew 3. vintage ticking & grain sacks 4. vintage French tea towels 5. covington black woven ticking, waverly pen pal parchment via online fabric store 6. 1950's paisley fabric 7. vintage cotton paisley apron

SOGGY BOTTOM PIES

One of the problems with making a custard or fruit pie is a soggy bottom crust. To avoid a soggy bottom you not only want to start out with a good hot oven, you also want to first brush or dust the bottom of the crust with a sealant.

Here are a few tips to prevent soggy bottoms in your pie crusts -

1. Moisture proof the bottom of the crust before chilling and filling. There are several ways to seal the bottom crust depending on the type of pie you're baking. You can brush the bottom crust with melted butter, egg white wash, sieved preserves for extra flavor, or melted chocolate for the most effective moisture-proofing of all. Then place the crust in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before assembling pie.
2. An alternate method of moisture-proofing is to dust the bottom of the crust with a 50/50 mixture of flour and sugar to set the crust. In Hoosier Mama's pie kitchen this is referred to as "crust dust" and is always included in any fresh fruit pies.
3. Use a hot oven temperature (425º plus) for the first 15 minutes of baking.
4. Place pie on lowest rack on a preheated baking sheet or for certain juicy pies, bake the pie directly on the floor of the oven for the first 20 minutes.
5. Thicken the filling prior to placing in the pie shell. For the purest flavor of fruit pies, macerate (marinate) the fruit in sugar for at least 30 minutes, capture the juices and reduce the liquid by half or 2/3 or until very thick (you can use the microwave but spray the liquid measuring cup with non-stick vegetable oil to keep it from boiling over.) Add liquid back to the fruit filling. You will only need about a 1/3 of the thickener the recipe calls for.
6. Use a pan that readily absorbs heat, such as glass or ceramic.

If you're pie is only going to have a bottom crust, you can blind-bake the crust than moisture-proof it. Blind-baking is when you partially or fully-bake an unfilled pie shell. This is especially key for custard based fillings, or for fillings that are cooked separately or not at all.

To blind-bake, follow these easy steps for a par-baked (partially baked) crust:

1. Once you've placed your crust in a pie pan, dock the dough. Docking simply means to prick the dough all over with a fork to keep it from puffing. Make sure to not only get the bottom but the sides as well.
2. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes or longer, before baking.
3. Preheat the oven to 350º F.
4. Butter shiny side of aluminum foil, and butter side down, place the foil tightly against the crust. Since the crust is frozen there is no need to add pie weights. Bake on baking sheet on center rack for 20 minutes.
5. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press down on it gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the crust another 10 minutes, or until firm and golden brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool crust to room temperature before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
6. As an optional step, if you're worried about the filling leaking through the holes you can apply an egg white wash to the bottom and sides of the crust with a pastry brush (although, the holes usually close up during the blind-bake process.) Pop back into the oven for another 2 minutes until the egg glaze sets. Remove once again, and allow to cool before adding pie filling.

Note: Some bakers only use parchment paper and are adamantly against using aluminum foil because they feel the dough doesn't bake the same.

An alternate method is to use pie weights. If using pie weights, there is no need to dock (prick) the dough. Do one or the other as they both accomplish the same thing. This blind-bake method may be preferable if there is a risk of the liquid filling leaking through the holes.

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Place parchment paper or sheet of aluminum foil (shiny side buttered for easier removal) over bottom crust, making sure to cover the edges too.
2. Place dried beans, dried rice, or actual pie weights over the surface of the covering. This prevents the crust from puffing.
3. Place in oven and bake blind for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and carefully lift off the covering with pie weights. Return the pie shell to the oven and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until light golden brown.
5. As an optional step you can apply an egg white wash to the base to prevent a soggy bottom. Or instead of an egg wash, you can boil and strain apricot or raspberry preserve to brush on the crust to seal it. Or melted white or dark chocolate, or even clarified butter. Once the crust has been sealed and cooled to room temperature, add the filling and bake until the filling has set.

Note: It is important to either dock the crust or weigh the crust down as it bakes to prevent the crust from shrinking or puffing up with air bubbles.