Millicent Souris' Corn Buttermilk Pie

Pairing corn with custard makes sense; the sweetness of the corn reads as a dessert, and used with buttermilk, it feels like country flavors in a classy place.

Sweet corn can balance out the tanginess of the buttermilk. Or rather that pitch of the buttermilk can add another level of flavor to the sweetness in a gentle manner.

Pie Crust, chilled

Cut 2 sticks (224 g) ice-cold butter into ¼ inch pieces.
Scatter the butter over these dry ingredients by pinching each piece. The goal is to give the fat some presence but do not overwork it. The butter should keep its shape:
2 ¼ cups (280 g) Daisy Pastry Flour
3 teaspoons (18 g) kosher salt
2 teaspoons (8 g) white sugar
Lift all the dry ingredients from the bowl so they aren’t stuck there. The butter should not get warm.
Add ½ cup (120 ml) + 2-3 Tablespoons (30 to 45  ml)
strained ice water.  Slowly pour part of the water into the bowl with the dry ingredients, evenly distribute, and repeat.
In warmer months you may not need the extra 30-45 ml water.
Squeeze, not knead, the crust. It should be cool and moist.
Separate the dough into two balls. Wrap each one in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling them out.

Comment: This seems like a lot of salt. However, almost every pie in the past contests was under-seasoned.  Some say, if you cannot taste salt in the dough, there isn’t enough. Keep this in mind when you make the fillings; emphasize the taste of the key ingredients. Who wants a pie that just tasted like sugar?

Filling

1 stick (1/2 cup or 112g) unsalted butter, melted
2 large or 3 small ears of sweet corn, shaved
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup (235 ml) buttermilk, room temperature
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
zest and juice of 1 lemon

Melt your butter. Shuck the corn and pick the silk out of the kernels. Place a clean kitchen towel on your surface. Hold the ear of corn by the handle God gave it, and put the butt of the corn cob on the kitchen towel. The ear of corn is perpendicular to the table. Hold it firmly with your nondominant hand and with your sharpest knife in your good hand; shave the kernels off the cob. The kitchen towel should trap them. Take the back of a regular butter knife and scrape it back and forth across the cob. This is called milking the cob to get all the magical corn flavor and juice out of the cob.

Mix the room-temperature eggs and buttermilk. Whisk in the sugar, salt, lemon zest and juice and add the butter in a stream. Finish with the corn and pour into the cooled pie shell. Remember, cold eggs and a hot pie are not friends.

Bake in the 350°F oven for an hour. Check at 30 minutes and give it a turn. The pie is done when just the center jiggles. Pull and let set for an hour before serving.

Wash
1 egg white
Pre-Bake Tools
aluminum foil
baking beans

Bottom Crust

Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C, gas mark 7)

Roll out your chilled pie crust to 1/8-inch(3 mm) thick and about 13inches (33 cm) in diameter. Place in your pie pan.Trim the edges so there is no more than 1/4-inch (6 mm) of overhang. Lift and crimp the overhang along the rim. Prick the bottom and the sides of the crust to prevent bubbles. Try not to pierce through the crust. Chill your crust in the freezer for at least 15minutes or in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. It is important for the crust to be very cold and the fat to re-form and firm up. Pull your pie plate out of the refrigerator and place
your foil in it.  It should sit flush with the plate, come up along the rim, and fold down to cover the edges. This foil protects the crust from overbrowning, but do not press the foil to the edges. Place your baking beans in the bottom and bake the crust for 15 minutes at 425°F (220°C,gas mark 7). Then pull out the crust, lower your oven to 350°F (180°C, gas mark 4),  and carefully lift the aluminum foil by the edges off your crust with the beans in it.  Put your crust back in the oven for 10 minutes. Pull and let cool a bit.  Brush the crust with the egg white wash.

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Daisy Flours are milled by McGeary Organics
Lancaster, Pennsylvania 800-624-3279