#recipes #recipe #pie
pssst
you want to make a kick ass pie dough?
here-

4 c flour
2 c butter [or other solid fat. crisco, lard, etc]
1 tsp salt [to taste, sanely 1/2 tsp - 2 tbsp]
1 tbsp vinegar or other acid
1 tbsp sugar, halve for alt sweeteners [also to taste, 2 tsp - 3 tbsp]
1 egg
1/4 c cool water, plus some extra

mix ur wets in one bowl. ur dries in another. butter is neither.

cut the butter, cold, into your dries. you can pound it flat and bookturn all fancy if you know how, but i find cutting the cold butter into teeny cubes and rubbing in by hand or fork works as well with less effort.

add ur wets when the butters in flat, floury flakes instead of cubes.
mix until dough forms, should look more like pasta than bread dough, not sticky, but not kneaded enough to count as smooth.
add extra water as needed, recipe is bare for liquid sugars.

cut into four, each one is a pie shell or lid.
wrap each dough quarter in beeswaxed cloth or cling wrap, whatever you have thats airtight so nothing dries out or forms a skin, and
chill at least 20 minutes.
freeze if ur not making pie in the next 2 days. thaw in fridge night before use.

pound flat and roll out to fit in pie dish. cook between 400-425 F, for 20-55 minutes, depending on if youre blind baking or filling and baking.

i have no idea where this recipe came from originally. its been modified by three generations of secretive thanksgiving alterations by my blood family. i use it for pot pie and jam tartlets, personally, and live to share knowledge.

with lots of queer spite and love!
evergreen

canned garlic! finally made my own!! seems like 1 head fits neatly into a half pint jar, minced.

its so expensive on the shelf compared to fresh bulbs. so i found a paper on acidifying garlic to a safe pH for botulism not to grow, which is the same pH level that boiling water canning measures against.

so i went ahead and chopped and soaked in acid solution overnight per the paper, then canned this garlic in an acid solution between 3 and 5% to keep things acidic enough to not do botulism during long term storage.

canning guides want me to pressure can things instead of messing with acidity. but i dont wanna spend money i dont have. on things i dont need. when i have all the other stuff to do task.
especially when all the locally available commercial canning has citric acid as preservative in it anyway, flavor adulteration be damned!! [and thats like, the only substantive argument i found against acidifying things to can at home, besides "people too stupid to understand" patronisation.]

sources:
university of idaho 2014 paper: acidification of garlic and herbs for consumer preparation of infused oils, i found it here: http://foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/Jul-Aug-14-Abo.pdf

and on home canning, the 2015 usda guide as organized by university of georgia: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can
#canning #photography