This Christmas, a dear friend of mine gifted me a mason jar full of sourdough starter. It’s an heirloom starter, I guess you could say, because we assume it’s been babied and fed for many years. We Alaskans regard sourdough as highly as we do salmon or berries because it’s very much ingrained in the Alaskan food culture. Pardon the pun.
Sourdough immigrated up to Alaska around the waists and necks of prospectors in the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s. At the time, other leavenings like yeast and baking soda were sensitive to the freezing temperatures and quantities were limited. Sourdough, on the other hand, could withstand cold and the starter continued to be active, so long as it was fed and cared for.
Earlier this week, I looked at the starter in the mason jar and realized I had completely neglected it since Christmas. When I opened the jar, it still smelled like sourdough starter should. There was a small amount of liquid on the top and it had the texture of pancake batter that had been left out on the counter overnight. In a last ditch effort, I added equal parts water and flour, covered it, and let it sit on the counter overnight in hopes that was all the resuscitating it needed. The next morning, it had a few bubbles on the top, and I stirred in more water and flour. When I got home from work that night, it had literally bubbled over the side of the bowl. Sourdough success!
This week’s antique recipe was a butternut squash pie, so I figured I would try one of my own with sourdough crust. Dealing with sourdough as a crust is a little tricky because it’s natural leavening. To prevent the dough from rising too much, I didn’t let it rest too long.
When I thought of the taste of sourdough, I thought of naan bread. Naturally, that spiraled into an intense craving for curry. I had just made a pie crust with chicken fat so with my new found pie baking confidence, I found that the sky was the limit for pie flavors. I used a Sri Lankan curry powder from The Alaska Spice Company which included cumin, coriander, fenugreek, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, curry, and pepper. The curry powder, coupled with the sweetness of the butternut squash and a couple other ingredients, made for stellar pies. I went with hand pies because they seem to be all the rage in the blog-o-sphere and food magazines right now. Since I’m a carb/crust connoisseur, I totally understand why they are. The more crust, the better!
As mentioned in this week’s Preserves post, I couldn’t really try the pies the day I baked them because I’m suffering (yes, suffering!!) from a condition infamously known as pine mouth. It’s when an intense bitter taste pours into your mouth after eating or drinking and it’s caused by pine nuts, though no one knows exactly how or why our bodies react this way. There’s even a warning label on the back of the package and guess who didn’t read it until two days went by of bitter misery?! This girl. I’m going on Day #4, and there’s residual bitterness in the back of my mouth. The moral of this story: beware of pine nuts, my friends. Beware.
Since I couldn’t taste test, my kitchen apprentice, Izzy, approved of the pie, and so did my husband, so if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. I don’t know if we can trust Izzy though. She’s a people-pleaser, that one.
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), cold
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup sourdough starter, more or less
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- 2 cups of butternut squash, about 2 lbs. of squash, roasted
- ½ cup coconut milk
- ¼ cup, scant, maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tbsp. fresh basil, finely chopped
- 1 tsp. curry powder
- ¼ tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. nutmeg
- To make the crust, mix sugar, salt, and flour together in a bowl. Dice each stick of cold butter and cut into flour using a pastry cutter or food processor. You'll want to work quickly here because the colder the butter, the better in baking.
- Once everything is well blended and the flour/butter pieces are no larger than a pea, fold sourdough started into the mixture until a ball forms. Depending on the texture of your starter, you may or may not need to add water. I had to add about ⅛ cup of cold water to get the texture I needed.
- Separate into two equal balls of dough and chill until you're ready to use.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- To roast squash, cut in half, scoop our seeds, and place flesh side up on an oven-safe dish. Drizzle with olive oil and cook about 40 minutes or until flesh is tender. Once squash has cooked and has had time to cool, scoop out meat of the squash from its shell and put in the bowl of a food processor.
- Crank up the oven heat to 425 degrees.
- Puree roasted butternut squash in your food processor.
- Meanwhile, heat coconut milk, curry powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small sauce pan over low heat until the smell of curry is prominent, about 4 minutes.
- Add milk mixture, chopped basil, and eggs to the food processor and mix on low for about 30 seconds or until all ingredients are well blended.
- Take your sourdough crust and roll out on a well floured surface. Using a glass or small bowl that is about 4 inches in diameter, cut circles into the crust.
- Once you have the dough cut out, take one circle and brush the edges with water.
- Scoop about 1 heaping tablespoon of pureed mixture on the center.
- Cover with another circle of dough. Using a fork, press along the edges until the crust is sealed.
- Cut a slit or two in the top so air can escape.
- Repeat until all pies are filled and sealed.
- Place on parchment paper, brush each pie with a beaten egg, and sprinkle with raw sugar.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until pies are golden brown.
Mark Thackeray says
Looks amazing! Going to have to try this. Roughly how many hand pies did this recipe yield?
Mary Catherine says
I got 8 wee hand pies out of this recipe in the past. If you make them, I’d love to hear how you liked them and/or if you made any modifications.