Buttermilk Pie

SAN ANTONIO - The popularity of buttermilk pie has risen since the pastry was rumored to be one of the goodies served at Carrie Underwood's July 10th wedding to Mike Fisher. Chris Bragg, the owner of Greensboro, Georgia's Yesterday Cafe will neither confirm not deny that he baked pies for the event, but according to Canada's National Post, he has been filling requests for the confections from "all over North America."

The recipe was created by Lanita Franklin, the first chef of Yesterday’s Cafe. It comes from an old African-American family recipe and was passed down through generations of her family. Bragg warns that it’s difficult to make a perfect buttermilk pie because most people don’t have a commercial convection oven. The consistency is difficult to achieve without experimentation.

“You have to play around a little bit with the temperature and the time and the ingredients,” he said. “It took a month of playing to get it right.”

A proper buttermilk pie is a sweet egg custard pie. Bragg says many patrons, even native southerners, have to be sold on the idea. It has a consistency lighter than a pumpkin pie, but heavier than a meringue pie. “If you get it spongy like a cake, it will still taste good. But it’s not buttermilk pie.”

On the other hand, buttermilk pie can turn out runny. “You want a gel consistency,” says Bragg. “Most folks just can’t do it. The best way to do it is to hop on a plane and try it.”

Lanita Franklin's Buttermilk Pie

Ingredients:

* 1 3/4 cups sugar
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1 tablespoon vanilla
* 3 eggs, beaten
* 1/3 cup melted butter
* 3/4 cup buttermilk
* Unbaked nine-inch (23-centimetre) pie shell

1. Combine sugar and flour and whisk until flour is completely mixed into the sugar. Add vanilla and whisk until evenly mixed in with sugar and flour.

2. Beat the eggs well, then add them. Whisk well. Whisk in the melted butter and then add buttermilk and whip well before pouring into the unbaked pie shell.

3. Bake in a commercial convection oven for 45 minutes at about 350 F (170 C). (The temperature could be as low as 325 F (160 C) or as high as 400 F (200 C), depending on your oven.) Shake the pie a little to make sure it is not undercooked. It should barely shake in the middle. Crust should be golden brown and slightly flaky.

4. When you cut the pie, make sure you do not have a separation with a cakey layer near the top. The pie should have a custard consistency throughout. Buttermilk pies should be refrigerated after cooling, but remain fresh-tasting for at least a week.