Gingered Peach and Blackberry Pandowdy

My roommate and I were in Powell's a while ago and saw this book, Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More.

I turned to my roommate and said, "you're a pandowdy."

He retorted with, "you're a pandowdy."

We've been doing that ever since.

A few days after the pandowdy incident, Julia over at Dozen Flours decided to give away that same book in a little comment contest. So, I decided to enter. And guess what? I won the book!

A couple of days ago the book arrived, and I decided that my first dessert had to be...wait for it...a pandowdy!

pandowdy, right from the oven

August 13, 2009
Name of dessert: My Roommate Is A Pandowdy
Occasion: I want to eat some peaches
Constituents: Peaches, blackberries, a little candied ginger and a pastry top crust.

I laughed a little when I opened the book and discovered that the authors are Portlanders. Cory Schreiber is the founder of Wildwood and Julie Richardson is the founder of Baker and Spice. Baker and Spice! I've been there! I even bought a selection of goodies from their shop last fall in an attempt to do a Opinionated Opinion, which I never wrote (the rhubarb hand pie was my favorite). All of a sudden I knew I was in good hands.

Baker and Spice
I think it is hilarious that the lemon tart is labeled LeMoN

In the introduction, Schreiber takes a moment to explain what the difference is between all these rustic desserts. There were several I didn't know, like the buckle, slump, grunt, and the pandowdy. A buckle is described as halfway between a cake and a crisp. Slumps and grunts are cooked on top of the stove instead of baked, some are even steamed. Pandowdies are deep dish desserts usually with a biscuit topping, but this particular one had a pastry crust.

So you all know I struggle with pastry, mainly because I am new to it and don't practice enough. I took a deep breath and dove into the all butter pastry recipe in the book. Interestingly, Richardson recommends dusting with rice flour when rolling out the dough, as it doesn't stick to the pastry. I have to say, pastry is kind of fun. Well, it will be more fun when I am an experienced pastry maker.

using rice flour to roll out the dough

Although this pandowdy has a several steps (make the pastry, macerate the peaches, reduce the juices, roll out the pastry and...bake!) it still is really easy to put together. And, although this pandowdy has chopped candied ginger as well as a little powdered ginger, it still tastes really good. The ginger gives a bit of heat to the whole juicy, tart, peachy/blackberry goodness.

And my pastry? Well, it isn't perfect. But I'm not giving up!!

Gingered Peach and Blackberry Pandowdy

I am excited to try so many of the recipes in this book. There's the huckleberry buckle (I love how that sounds!), the olive oil citrus cake, the caramel peach grunt, and the sour cherry cobbler. Don't they sound delicious?

Stay tuned, friends.

chester blackberries

Comments

  1. that looks fantastic! Very seasonal!

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  2. Yes, they look totally delicious! Yours looked absolutely perfect.
    I would like to make a grunt for dinner...that would give me the giggles all evening!
    I like the sound of that caramel peach grunt. I will look forward to your future posts.

    (my word verification is 'healings'.
    That is nice.

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  3. thanks Amanda!

    Melinda, I am pretty sure the caramel peach grunt is next. Maybe even this week. I really wanted to do it first but after all the pandowdiness I couldn't pass up a chance to type "pandowdy" several times in one post.
    Nice word verification! I haven't ever had a real word, for example my WV is notonn. Almost a couple of real words, but not quite.

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  4. I love pandowdies! How can you not love that word? You're too young to remember "Shoo fly pie and apple pandowdy," which was, believe it or not, a hit song. I'd love to have a blog where I just did fools, grunts, and pandowdies. And the occasional cobbler or crisp.
    Your pandowdy looks great. Have you ever tried a shoo fly pie?

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  5. Hi BBC,
    I don't remember that song, but I did blog about a gluten-free shoofly pie that I made based on Rose's recipe in the Pie nad Pastry Bible. It was really good, but I can't handle that much caffeine on a regular basis!

    Pandowdy is a fun, and very delicious word! I think my blog might become only fools, pandowdies, grunts, and slumps for the next few weeks. They are so good!!

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