So you might be wondering what "this project" even is. How convenient, since I was just about to explain!
Baking makes my heart smile. When I'm not at work or volunteering or studying for the GRE or running, I'm baking. And it's pretty much all I ever want to do even while I'm doing all of the aforementioned things: talk about baking, write about baking, shoot photos of my baking, read other people's baking chronicles, maybe sleep with some pies beside my bed (okay, I wasn't supposed to disclose that kind of information). But I had been wondering if my baking would stand up to the San Francisco litmus test. After all, I live in the city of Tartine, Sandbox, and Mission Pie. And I've never been to culinary school. But despite the fact that I can't make croissants and I am deathly afraid of ruining every layer cake I ever promise to make for my friends' birthdays, I realized that nobody makes dessert like my mother. And, especially, no one makes pecan pies the right way, a.k.a. the southern way, which is what I've been raised on.
Oh, yes, my Internet friends, I'm a southern girl in San Francisco. I'm a Georgia Peach raised by Tennessee rednecks (let's be real) in the Bay Area. It's been quite the cultural experience. My mom, who now only bakes for major national holidays, used to fill the kitchen with banana puddings, pecan pies, chicken and dumplings, cobblers, and chicken pot pies. Thus, pie crust is one of my oldest and dearest friends.
Oh, yes, my Internet friends, I'm a southern girl in San Francisco. I'm a Georgia Peach raised by Tennessee rednecks (let's be real) in the Bay Area. It's been quite the cultural experience. My mom, who now only bakes for major national holidays, used to fill the kitchen with banana puddings, pecan pies, chicken and dumplings, cobblers, and chicken pot pies. Thus, pie crust is one of my oldest and dearest friends.
And so my passion found an outlet in this project. I decided I would bring authentic, homemade southern baked goods to the Bay Area. But I've lived in the Bay Area for well over half my life, so I have to put my own spin on things: All of my ingredients are sourced from local farmers, my friend who grows fruit and raises chickens and bees, and various farmer's markets. This is with one caveat. I refuse to bake with anything other than White Lily flour, which my family brings back from trips to Tennessee every few months. So it's not technically adding to my carbon footprint to use this stuff, since I'm not shipping it separately. Consequently, this is a project in sustainable southern baking. So eat for the good of the earth! If you put down your bag of stale Chips Ahoy cookies and pick up a pie from your friendly neighbor (i.e. me), it is my firm belief that you will save the lives of countless innocent baby animals. And you're also participating in your community, eating healthier, and just being a generally smart person. So that's cool.
Now, I love Paula Deen as much as the next guy, but I'm not a butter fiend, nor do I fall back on bacon as a crutch. My main baking influences are my mother (who started cooking with tofu in Atlanta in the early 90s. Now that's progressive.), the fine pastry chefs at Chez Panisse, and Alexa Johnston, the author of Ladies, A Plate, a cookbook of the most treasured traditional New Zealand baked goods, which I discovered during my year abroad in Kiwi-Land. Much of my baking experience comes from my year abroad, when my friend and I stayed on farms and baked cakes and trifles with the fruits that we harvested each day in the spring.
Anyway, that's enough from me. Stay tuned to learn more about my trials and tribulations as I get this project rolling. I am still in Phase 1 here, people. Many mistakes are sure to be on the horizon. I'll have the photos to prove it.
Flour and Sugar,
Carrie Melissa
You're lucky that you have access to White Lily Flour. It's nearly impossible to find here in the SF Bay Area and I'm too lazy to actually mail order it.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I bake with a lot of "alternative" flours and find myself reaching for wheat flour less and less anyway so I guess it's not that big a loss. But sometimes you just need that White Lily (the lack of White Lily might also explain why it's impossible to find decent biscuits and gravy here in SF as well).
I look forward to reading about your adventures. Certainly SF needs some good southern baking. I made a chess pie last year for SF Food Wars and not single person knew what it was.
Hi Irvin! I'm a huge fan of your blog, so thanks so much for the welcome. It means a lot.
ReplyDeleteI don't like to mail order White Lily either, especially since Smuckers bought them out in 2006. It's too bad really, but the actual flour itself hasn't changed, so I continue to use it. I'd love to find a suitable substitute with some combination of alternative flours and white flour, but that might take me quite a while to figure out.
It really does make ALL the difference in biscuits. They should be like tender little bunnies instead of the rocks you get at most southern food places in SF.
And I love chess pie! My aunt used to make one that was so sweet, I could hardly breathe after eating it. That's quite a risk you took bringing that to San Franciscans! I commend you, haha.
Again, thanks for the note! Hopefully I can get in the swing of things and really get myself out there pretty soon.