![]() Stuard dotted the top with a few pats of butter for flavor, and we gently stretched the top crust over the pile of berries. I mounded in plenty of filling - Stuard said he liked his pies to "look pregnant" - and then stirred in the forgotten cornstarch. When he placed the dough into the ceramic pie pan, the crust ripped in a few places, but Stuard just patched it with extra dough. When the filling was prepped, Stuard sprinkled the counter with flour and rolled out the pie dough so quickly and efficiently that I barely realized what was happening until it was done. We aimed for enough lavender to lend a hint of flavor that would linger, but not so much that the filling tasted like a candle. Stuard added the lavender gradually, stopping periodically so we could taste a bit and smack our lips thoughtfully. Then we went to work on the filling: four boxes of small, jewellike Maine blueberries sugar and the secret ingredient - dried lavender. He separated it into two balls, put them in an airtight bag and set them in the fridge. When the grated butter and shortening were fully mixed into the flour, Stuard slowly added water, mixing with the other hand until the dough held together and was smooth but not sticky. On a hot day in Texas, he would even put his mixing bowl in the freezer before making piecrust. He does, however, keep his flour and sugar in the freezer to help keep the fat cold as the crust is mixed. Some recipes call for frozen butter, but Stuard keeps his in the fridge and grates it into the flour with a cheese grater. Shortening has a higher melting point, a desirable trait because a key to obtaining a flaky crust is keeping the fat cold. The butter is for flavor, Stuard explained, while the shortening helps build a flaky texture. Crust recipes are generally pretty simple - flour, water and fat - but Walter's uses a combination of unsalted butter and non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. Stuard has tested many piecrust recipes, and for our pie he turned to the 1998 cookbook Great Pies & Tarts by Carole Walter. When I contacted Stuard to set up a private baking session, he told me about the blueberry-lavender pie he had created after seeing a similarly flavored salad dressing in the grocery store. They think of themselves as political and climate refugees. You mean a lot to me.'"īurned out on activism and his career as a social worker, Stuard and his husband, Fred Patchen, left Texas for Vermont nearly two years ago. "One of the most important things is creating community," Stuard said of activism work. He found that gathering around food helped build sustainable movements. Pete Sessions' (R-Texas) congressional seat in 2016, and he's been arrested while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. He's a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he ran on the Green Party ticket for U.S. "After a while, people knew I was the pie guy," he said. He began baking more regularly for friends. For a Christmas party in college, he made a dark-rum-ginger-pumpkin pie, a recipe he still makes to this day. He didn't learn to cook and bake until he was living on his own. ![]() "Her meringue pies were a work of art."īut Stuard was an observer, not an active participant, of these women's baking. "Eating her pies was like eating love," he said. Often lonely as a child, he found comfort in his grandmother's baking. Stuard grew up eating pies made by his mother and grandmother, who once ran a roadside café in Breckenridge, Texas.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |