🥧² // Cathy Barrow's slab pies on Salt + Spine Baking Week
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Baking Week continues…
In our four-part Baking Week, we're bringing you four all-new episodes — today through Thursday — with authors behind some of this year's best baking books. On Monday, we sat down with Food52's Kristen Miglore; on Tuesday, we had Rose Levy Beranbaum and Woody Wolston in our studio; and on Wednesday, Magnus Nilsson joined us.
And the last Baking Week episode is…
Cathy Barrow Pie Squared: Irresistibly Easy Sweet & Savory Slab Pies
On the final episode of our Baking Week, we're excited to welcome Cathy Barrow to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.
Cathy’s latest cookbook, Pie Squared, is a collection of 75 recipes for slab pie. Cathy writes: “For those of you who aren't up on your Pinterest food trends, slab pie is just like regular pie-only better (and bigger)!” Unlike the round pies you might be used to, these sweet and savory pies are baked in sheet pans.
In addition to cookbooks—her first, Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry, won the IACP award for best single-subject cookbook in 2015—Cathy is a columnist for The Washington Post, writing the paper’s “Bring It” column.
On this episode of Salt + Spine’s special Baking Week, we sat down with Cathy at the San Francisco’s The Civic Kitchen to discuss slab pies, her recipes for exciting crusts—like the caramelized onion crust or a hash brown crust—and tips for great pie baking at home, like avoiding that dreaded “soggy bottom.”
Start cooking from Pie Squared today:
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BAY AREA LISTENERS: Join our Cookie Swap!
Saturday, December 15th from 1-3 p.m.
If you love cookies, you won’t want to miss the 2018 Cookie Swap extravaganza hosted by Salt + Spine and The Civic Kitchen! We’ll open up the kitchen for an afternoon of cookie demos, baking tips, sampling, and glasses of bubbly and warm apple cider.
Bring one dozen (or more!) homemade cookies, and swap them for other cookies to take home. No time to bake? You can still take cookies home - $10 per dozen.
Proceeds from the event will benefit La Cocina, which supports low-income food entrepreneurs in the Bay Area.
We’ll serve cookies by authors featured on Salt + Spine and treats from other home bakers. We'll be joined by cookbook authors and Salt + Spine guests Jessica Battilana and Cal Peternell, who will demo some of their favorite cookies—plus, pick up some cookie-baking tricks from demos by Salt + Spine host Brian Hogan Stewart and Civic Kitchen teachers just in time for the holidays.
We will also give away a set of baking books and a Salt + Spine t-shirt to celebrate Baking Week!
Featured Recipes from Pie Squared
Just-Like-Artichoke-Dip Slab Pie with a Cream Cheese Crust
We all have our comfort foods, and artichoke dip is mine. It’s soothing and familiar and cheesy and goes with a rainy day and a Netflix binge. Next time, invite a few friends over, wrap that familiar combination in a tender cream cheese crust, and make a pie.
Select artichokes packed in water, not marinated or in a vinegar brine. Chop the artichokes into small pieces, pressing the liquid out as you go. The drier the artichokes, the better the texture and flavor of the filling. Add a lattice or open-work crust that you dusted with cheese, cut the pie into tiny bite-sized pieces, and you have a fancy pass-around for a swanky cocktail party.
Merry Mince-ish Slab Pie with a Butter and Shortening Crust
Growing up, holidays always included a mince pie. My grandmother would shop in a fancy food store in Boston and send jars of Crosse and Blackwell filling to my mince pie–loving mother in Ohio. Even as a youngster, I adored the exotic flavors that came from that stout, dark glass jar. When the jars were empty and my mother craved a taste of mince, she made a pie like this and called it Mince-ish. I think of this glorious recipe as another way to dress up apples before I wrap them in flaky crust. The glaze is essential, by the way. This is a rich pie; serve in small slices.
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