Easy Buttermilk Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients in a buttermilk pie? ›

Both pies are very similar but have a few distinct differences. Like a chess pie, buttermilk pie starts with the same main components of butter, sugar, and eggs. But instead of milk and lemon juice (or vinegar), it uses straight buttermilk to give it a tart lusciousness.

Sweet and slightly tangy, buttermilk pie is loved for its simplicity. The filling has a creamy and smooth texture, comparable to crème brûlée. The combination of flaky pie crust with rich, custardy filling is an instant winner. Lemon zest and vanilla extract make up the predominant flavors.

Yes, you can swap them in a recipe, but it's not as simple as switching buttermilk for heavy cream/heavy cream for buttermilk. For example, if you're replacing buttermilk with heavy cream you'll probably need to switch out your baking soda for baking powder.

There are four ingredients in a standard pie crust: flour, fat, liquid, and salt.

A recipe explicitly called chess pie appeared in the 1877 cookbook by Estelle Woods Wilcox, Buckeye Cookery. Today chess pie is most commonly associated as a dessert of the American South. Common types of chess pie are buttermilk, chocolate, lemon, and nut.

Buttermilk is made up of a variety of acids – the results of the fermentation process, which give baked goods a couple of benefits. First, the acidity provides tangy flavor to balance all kinds of sweet baked treats. Second, it activates baking soda, producing the gas that makes dough or batter rise.

Cold unsalted butter – Supplies the pie crust's unbeatable flavor and flaky texture. Use unsalted butter. The amount of salt in different brands' salted butter varies, so for better control over the flavor, it's best to begin with unsalted and add your salt.

“My preferred fat for pie crusts will always be butter. To me, it is all about flavor, and no other fat gives flavor to a crust like butter does. Other fats, even though they have great pros, lack flavor,” De Sa Martins said. “The more flavorful the butter, the more flavor your pie crust will have,” Huntsberger added.

What is buttermilk composed of? ›

It's made up of water, milk proteins, milk sugars (lactose) and a small amount of fat (about as much as low-fat milk). When butter was made at home, the buttermilk was left out overnight to ferment and thicken on its own. What you buy now is cultured buttermilk.

Buttermilk Pie is believed to have first originated in England and the recipe was brought to the United States by Southern settlers. The pie was predominately made in Texas where they were very resourceful with buttermilk because it was in large abundance and also inexpensive.

Buttermilk today consists mostly of water, the milk sugar lactose, and the milk protein casein. It has been pasteurized and hom*ogenized, and lactic-acid-producing bacteria cultures have been added, which may include Lactococcus lactis or Lactobacillus bulgaricus.

It is, quite simply, a pie filled with potatoes, onion and butter; it has flaky pastry on the base, sides and top, and given the simplicity of its contents, a generous amount of salt and pepper. It is traditionally eaten with braised red cabbage.