Woman! Bake Me A Pie... RIIIIGHT NOW!

THE FACTS ARE THESE... this pie is too good to miss! Have you seen "Pushing Daisies"? It is a cute, fanciful TV show that aired a while back. Don't plan on closure at the end of it all- total cliff hanger, but even still- I really enjoyed the ride! It is just clean and clever, out of the ordinary. The main character is Ned, the pie maker and owner of the "The Pie Hole." My husband and I watched the whole first season just dying for at least one bite of his bright, beautiful pies... but alas... I had to make my own, and I did some hunting for what I think turned out to be some GREAT recipes! (At least the best I have ever made- the crust turned out beautifully and I have never made a good crust.) My husband had a friend that said that his only requirement for his "wife-to-be" was that he could just say, "Woman! Bake Me A Pie... RIIIIGHT NOW!" and she would do so... immediately. :) Every once in a while, Doug will say it to me... and every once in a while, I indulge him.
I also wanted to but a plug in for this little beauty. My sister-in-law Amy also mentioned it- and I can't for the life of me remember who told us about it, so I am sending a "THANK YOU" into the abyss! It is SO HANDY! It works wonderfully well and you don't have to worry about keeping fresh buttermilk and always having it on hand. Great for pancakes or baking or anything. I am fully converted!

Buttermilk Pie Crust

By Joy the Baker (click on the link for her great step by step visual tutorial.)

makes a double crusted 9-inch pie crust

Print this Recipe!

2 sticks (8 ounces) cold unsalted butter

2 1/2 (12 ounces) cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (5 to 6 ounces) buttermilk

1. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes. Measure out the buttermilk and store in the refrigerator to keep it cold (you could even put it in the freezer for a few minutes too).

2. Sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Take the cold butter from the freezer and toss it with the flour mixture.

3. Dump the cold butter cubes and flour mixture onto a large work area for rolling. With a rolling pin, roll the mixture, flattening the butter cubes with the flour into long, thin, floured butter sheets. Work quickly to ensure that the butter stays cold. Below is what the rolled butter and flour look like after I’

ve gathered them together on the work surface a bit.

4. Place the flour and flattened butter back in the large bowl and chill for 10 minutes. When the butter is cold, remove the bowl from the refrigerator, make a small well in the center of the flour and butter mixture. Add the cold buttermilk to the bowl all at once. Begin to bring the dough together with one hand ( keep the other hand free to answer the phone). Moisten all of the flour with the milk, using your hand to break up large clumps of milk and flour. The dough will be rather shaggy, but you can add another tablespoon of buttermilk, if you see that all your flour isn’t moistened. Form the dough into two disks. The disks will be rough, and hard to shape together, but once they rest in the fridge for an hour, they’

ll be easier to roll out.

5. Chill the dough for at least an hour in the refrigerator. At this point, the dough will keep in the fridge for up to three days, or in the freezer for up to three weeks. For freezing, roll the dough out into sheets and wrap them in plastic film.

6. Roll out the top crust large enough to cut a 12-inch circle.

Transfer the pie filling mixture to the pie shell. Moisten the border of the bottom crust by brushing it lightly with water and place the top crust over the filling. Trim the overhang of the top crust so that there is only 1/2-inch of overhand. Tuck the overhand under the bottom crust boarder and press down all around to seal it. Crimp the border using a fork or your fingers and make about 5 evenly spaced 2-inch slashes starting about 1 inch from the center of the pie and radiating toward the edge. Cover the pie loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour before baking. This will chill and relax the pastry, preventing shrinking.