Liz Bakes for You: Water Pie

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The main ingredient in this pie is water—if you can believe it after reading the name.

When I polled my instagram followers for some ideas for “weird” recipes, one that could perhaps top 1990’s Low Fat Cookies (I was not hopeful I’d find such a recipe), I was most intrigued by a response stating I should make a Water Pie. If I knew anything it was that any dessert with water in the title must have been a creation from the Great Depression and it would involve some weird sorcery.

I found a recipe easily and it seemed simple enough. But how would pouring a couple cups of water into an unbaked pie crust and sprinkling flour and sugar on top turn into a pie? And why did anyone ever face such constraints that this type of recipe was attempted?

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Similar to water becoming a pie, the Depression being a good era for food goes against the common perception. Limitations have a way of driving invention though, don’t they? In true America-land-of-opportunity-fashion there were a handful of food entrepreneurs who’s magical creations turned them into millionaires during a period when many people couldn’t afford to eat. Hmm, that sounds familiar…*googles how capitalism works*

Here are a few of my favorites:

1930: Tollhouse Cookies were invented—the story goes that Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, added broken chocolate bar pieces to her cookie batter hoping it would melt into the cookie as it baked to create a chocolate cookie. Luckily, that didn’t happen. And honestly, this lady deserves to be the richest person in America as far as I’m concerned.

1931: Bisquik was developed and we lost all knowledge of how pancakes were made from scratch.

1932: The world was gifted Fritos.

1934: Ritz Crackers hit the shelves.

1937: (perhaps controversial to say delicious, but I’m writing the blog post so…) the delicious meat product SPAM was introduced.

Now if someone could kindly bring me a plate of chocolate chip cookies (hot from the oven), cream cheese sandwiched between Ritz Crackers, and crispy pan-fried SPAM, I’ll get back to writing—Oh good—I had some emergency chocolate chip cookie dough in my freezer. All is copasetic.

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So we return to the question of WHY—why were items so scare? Why did they have to make pies from water? Ahh well it is a classic tale of supply and demand.

Did we stop farming chickens for eggs and cows for milk? No—but 25% of the population was unemployed and unable to afford such luxuries. And a disruption of that kind in our capitalist marketplace has ripple effects; since many people were low on grocery funds, grocery stores didn’t have enough business to keep items stocked. After all, grocery stores are burdened by the huge cost of inventory and it only makes sense to take on that burden if someone is coming through the door and buying that stock.

And thus we had a bit of a clusterf*ck until the New Deal and WWII came along (oversimplification on ALL fronts here but we’re trying to talk pie, right?).

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In fact, let’s talk pie: say the word and I envision a housewife, girdled-up and sporting a minuscule white apron tied over a cumbersome hoop-skirted dress, setting a steaming pie on the windowsill to cool. As she starts to move away, she laughs gently as a butterfly lands on her finger. How magical! She calls Cathy and little Eugene over to see. Isn’t life GRAND? Dad arrives home from the office to a house of laughter and joy. He hangs his hat up, ready to tuck into steak and potatoes for dinner. Everything is okay!

Yes, for whatever reason pie represents to me idealistic Americana, in all it’s perfect and false wholesomeness, something that’s never actually existed but pie makes seem real. God. Family. Country. Fruit Pies!

It is with some embarrassment then that I admit this pinnacle of home-cooking is not my forte. Most fruit pies I’ve made in my time have been a watery-mess.

But when I read this recipe and it said “pie will be watery when you pull it out of the oven but will gel as it cools” I thought to myself that maybe this is a pie I could make, regardless of what it was made out of, because I sure do know how to make a watery pie.

Without further ado, I present to you the recipe for Water Pie…enjoy?

 
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Recipe (from Southernplate.com)

Ingredients

  • 1 9 inch deep dish pie crust, unbaked

  • 1 1/2 cups water (that is one and a half cups)

  • 4 tablespoons all purpose flour

  • 1 cup sugar

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

  • 5 tablespoons butter, cut into 5 pieces

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 and set empty pie crust on a baking sheet.

  • Pour 1 + 1/2 cups water into the pie crust.

  • In a small bowl, stir together flour and sugar. Sprinkle evenly over water in crust. Don't stir.

  • Drizzle vanilla over water in pie crust. Place pats of butter on top of this.

  • Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and cover sides of crust if needed to prevent burning. Continue cooking for an additional 30 minutes.

  • Pie will be watery when you pull it out of the oven but will gel as it cools. Allow to cool completely and then cover and place in the fridge until chilled before cutting.

Resources 💁‍♀️🙂

Links!

Recipe: https://www.southernplate.com/water-pie-recipe-from-the-great-depression/

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/FMIqmcc3zJo

 
Elizabeth Doerr