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Laura Klynstra is the author and designer of The Homemade Pie Cookbook · Dishing with Stephanie's Dish

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish,
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  the podcast where we talk to people in the food space and a lot
• 0:09
  of cookbook
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  SPEAKER_00: authors.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this book came across my desk by Laura Kleinstra.
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  SPEAKER_00: And right away, I was like, mmm, pie!
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  Laura,
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  your book,
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  100 Pie Tart and Galette Recipes for Every Season,
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  is extremely beautiful.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when I read through the whole book and I read through your bio,
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  SPEAKER_00: I was like,
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  SPEAKER_00: oh,
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  SPEAKER_00: well,
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  SPEAKER_00: she's in the design field.
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  Because honestly,
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  this is probably one of the most beautiful books on pie I've
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  ever seen.
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  oh thank you thank you so much it's so incredible like just the
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  way that the pies
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  are decorated the color choices that you used for the intros
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  everything is laid out
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  so it feels easy accessible even like the whole rolling out the
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  pie dough section
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  there's tons of pictures the decorating of the lattice work
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  it's a really well done
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  SPEAKER_00: book congratulations
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  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you so much.
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  SPEAKER_00: What's your background?
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  SPEAKER_00: And how did you come to be the pie aficionado?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: My background is actually cover design.
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  SPEAKER_01: I'm a book cover designer, an art director.
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  SPEAKER_01: But I also during all the time that I've been an art director,
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  SPEAKER_01: I've also worked on a lot of cookbooks.
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  So I've gotten to go on a lot of photo shoots,
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  work with food stylists and photographers.
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  SPEAKER_01: And during that whole time, I learned I just kind of
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  SPEAKER_01: Back and watched and learned all the bits.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it took time.
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  SPEAKER_01: I'm a self-taught photographer.
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  It took me a long time to really figure out how to capture
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  light correctly.
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  SPEAKER_01: And light is really the key to getting a good photo.
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  SPEAKER_01: Um,
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  SPEAKER_01: so yeah,
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  SPEAKER_00: that was,
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  SPEAKER_01: it was a lot of trial and error,
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  SPEAKER_01: but eventually I figured out a system to get my,
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  SPEAKER_01: my camera mounted correctly.
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  I shoot manually,
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  um,
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  and get that light,
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  but I also,
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  I consider every,
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  um,
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  photo,
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  um,
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  SPEAKER_01: similar to the way I look at a cover design.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's not just here's your pie or whatever it is you're shooting.
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  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of things going on around it.
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  SPEAKER_01: And so it's telling a story.
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  SPEAKER_01: The photograph is telling a story.
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  It's giving you a sense of the time,
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  especially like the fall ones are a lot of fun to shoot.
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  So many great things,
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  the props that you can put in with the photos for the fall
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  shots.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it's just, it's a lot of fun.
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  Did you amass a large library of props and did you have things
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  already or were you
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  SPEAKER_00: always on the lookout?
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  SPEAKER_01: This is my third book, so I had a lot of props already.
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  SPEAKER_01: I have, like, all these storage shelves downstairs.
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  SPEAKER_01: I have the weirdest things.
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  SPEAKER_01: You know,
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  SPEAKER_01: I go to antique stores,
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  and I'm always looking for old boxes and just pretty much
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  everything that could
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  SPEAKER_01: possibly have anything to do with baking.
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  SPEAKER_01: If I go to an antique store,
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  SPEAKER_01: I'm always,
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  SPEAKER_01: like,
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  SPEAKER_01: I need that,
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  SPEAKER_01: especially pie servers,
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  SPEAKER_01: old silverware.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
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  SPEAKER_01: I hate photographing with a shiny...
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  uh silver you know piece of silver a new one that it never you
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  know for one thing
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  you can end up reflecting your camera in that so these old
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  patina um silverware and
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  things like that are just fabulous to have like you just kind
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  of have a ton of
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  those in your in yours um agreed agreed thus my sort of
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  background of stuff from my
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  SPEAKER_00: cookbook uh styling myself
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  SPEAKER_00: Can we talk about pie crust?
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  Do you have like what you would say is your definitive pie
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  crust that you mostly use?
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  SPEAKER_01: For sweet pies, there's a recipe in there called a maple pie crust.
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  SPEAKER_01: And that's actually my favorite crust to use.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's very similar to a regular crust,
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  SPEAKER_01: except for a lot of the liquid is made with a pure maple syrup.
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  SPEAKER_01: And when you roll that crust out,
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  SPEAKER_01: that syrup gives it like a pliability that just,
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  it doesn't crack the way sometimes you can get with a regular
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  all butter pie crust.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it's just so easy.
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  SPEAKER_01: And so it's just supple.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's my favorite one.
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  But again,
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  I'd only use it for sweets,
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  even though you don't really taste the maple taste.
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  It's like,
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  you know how when you add maple to something,
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  it doesn't have a strong flavor.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's not as strong as what you would expect it to be.
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  SPEAKER_01: But if you're beginning,
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  that would be my crust recommendation for somebody who's just
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  beginning because it
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  SPEAKER_01: does make it really easy to roll out.
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  I love this tip because I use vodka in my pie crust to kind of
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  do the same thing.
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  It gives you that moisture when you're putting the assembly
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  together and the roll,
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  SPEAKER_00: but then it bakes out.
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  SPEAKER_00: in the final product, so you get kind of a crispier situation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maple, I've never thought of that.
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  SPEAKER_00: I wonder, have you ever tried honey?
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  SPEAKER_00: Would it do the same thing?
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  SPEAKER_01: I haven't tried it.
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  SPEAKER_01: I would expect it would, and it would just add a little bit of sweetness.
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  SPEAKER_01: The other thing is buttermilk.
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  You can add a little buttermilk that,
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  I don't know if you've ever made pie dough and then
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  SPEAKER_01: put it in your refrigerator and left it in there for two days.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it started to turn kind of like a gray color.
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  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
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  When you add some acid,
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  like from the buttermilk,
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  it keeps it from doing that.
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  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
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  SPEAKER_01: I can't,
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  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what the science is behind that,
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  SPEAKER_01: but a little,
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  SPEAKER_01: a little,
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  SPEAKER_01: I think the vodka might too.
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  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's a great, yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: I know what you're talking about.
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  And I'm trying to think if I've noticed it with or without
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  vodka and I can't say
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  SPEAKER_00: truthfully I have.
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  But like a lot of times for Christmas or Thanksgiving or any of
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  the special
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  SPEAKER_00: holidays,
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  SPEAKER_00: you're making your crust in advance because you've got so much to do.
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  SPEAKER_00: So that's a really great tip.
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  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
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  SPEAKER_01: And you can also freeze pie dough.
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  SPEAKER_01: So you can make,
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  SPEAKER_01: if you're having Thanksgiving and you're,
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  SPEAKER_01: you're,
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  SPEAKER_01: you can do it a week ahead,
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  SPEAKER_01: just wrap each one individually and then put it inside a freezer,
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  SPEAKER_01: a black bag,
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  SPEAKER_01: and then throw it in the freezer.
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  And that way you're just,
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  you've got something that's totally done even a week in
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  advance.
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  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I really liked about this book,
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  SPEAKER_00: too,
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  SPEAKER_00: was you took pie into not just sweet places,
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  SPEAKER_00: but also savory.
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  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of galette and like savory forward dishes like a potato,
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  SPEAKER_00: bacon,
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  SPEAKER_00: gruyere galette.
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  SPEAKER_00: You've got quiche.
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  SPEAKER_00: Do you eat a lot of savory pies?
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  SPEAKER_00: Because that's actually kind of one of my favorite ways to do it.
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  SPEAKER_00: This samosa pie looks amazing.
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  SPEAKER_01: The samosa pie is so popular at my house.
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  SPEAKER_01: So popular.
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  SPEAKER_01: We love that one.
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  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we do eat that one quite a bit.
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  SPEAKER_01: The quiches we do a lot.
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  SPEAKER_01: Some of the other ones,
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  SPEAKER_01: not as often,
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  but like the asparagus one is kind of just more of a something
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  that I would bring
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  SPEAKER_01: to a party.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, spring or Easter.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: Like that first time when you,
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  SPEAKER_01: you,
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  SPEAKER_01: asparagus is one of the first things that comes out in,
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  SPEAKER_01: in this,
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  SPEAKER_01: in the spring.
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  SPEAKER_01: And so you're just like dying to get something fresh.
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  SPEAKER_00: We talked before I started the podcast that she's in Michigan.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm in Minnesota.
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  And literally like when you see anything green at the store and
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  we always jump the gun,
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  right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Because yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  produce from the coast before we get our own but there's
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  nothing better than like
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  your own homemade asparagus yes and the rhubarb is the other
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  thing that comes up
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  the soonest and again I love rhubarb it's so do I I think
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  that's my next book
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  actually just a whole rhubarb book yes because I just I'm
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  obsessed with it and I
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  SPEAKER_00: have like 60 recipes so I'm like you know I'm I'm about way there
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  SPEAKER_01: What kinds of recipes are they like cakes and?
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
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  SPEAKER_00: yes,
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  SPEAKER_00: like bars and cakes and pies and custards,
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  SPEAKER_00: but also chutneys and pork dishes and breads,
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  SPEAKER_00: cookies.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's a fabulous idea.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm on board with that one.
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  SPEAKER_00: I think I might have to like submit that as my next proposal.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
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  SPEAKER_00: Another thing that happened this year about pies,
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  SPEAKER_00: I guess it was maybe last year,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it created quite a kerfuffle and you address it in this book,
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  SPEAKER_00: is the loss of the chocolate wafer cookie.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
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  SPEAKER_00: The company that makes the chocolate wafer cookie,
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  SPEAKER_00: I believe it was Nabisco,
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  SPEAKER_00: stopped making that chocolate wafer cookie.
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  And it was the base for a lot of people's like mud pies or
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  chocolate pie crusts or
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  SPEAKER_00: the press-in crusts or the cookie crusts.
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  SPEAKER_00: And people were really freaked out and people were,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: we need a recipe to make this cookie.
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  SPEAKER_00: So in here you have your own chocolate cookie recipe.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's got the black cocoa in it.
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  SPEAKER_01: Like it's actually like an Oreo recipe.
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  But,
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  um,
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  without the,
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  and if you do end up using Oreos,
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  do take out that middle part.
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  SPEAKER_01: I always scrape out the,
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  SPEAKER_01: um,
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  SPEAKER_01: if you don't,
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  SPEAKER_01: you're going to end up with kind of like a too much butter and it's not,
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  SPEAKER_01: but yeah,
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  you can make your own so that you're not adding all these
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  preservatives and,
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  SPEAKER_01: um,
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  SPEAKER_01: yucky things into your pies, but sometimes people don't have time.
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  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I totally understand that.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I guess maybe depending on your audience too,
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  SPEAKER_00: like if you're making something for a kid's birthday party,
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  SPEAKER_00: maybe that feeling will be fine.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not that we feed our kids less delicious things than we feed ourselves,
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  SPEAKER_00: but come on,
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  SPEAKER_00: we kind of do.
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  SPEAKER_00: I do love to, there's a lot of detail in this book about garnishes and
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  and sauces and the white chocolate cranberry tart is just a
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  beautiful photograph
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  but it also has these sugared cranberries tell me about those
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  and and obviously
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  putting them on a tart is delightful but what else could we do
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  with those because
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  SPEAKER_00: those were just gorgeous
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  SPEAKER_01: I've used them on cakes and just even like,
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  SPEAKER_01: even if you're doing a spread,
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  SPEAKER_01: like a holiday spread,
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  SPEAKER_01: they look beautiful in a little bowl.
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  SPEAKER_01: And that same method,
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  the method to make those is you create a simple syrup and then
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  you dunk the
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  cranberries in the simple syrup and then you let it dry and
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  they become really
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  SPEAKER_01: sticky and then you roll them in.
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  sugar so they look really beautiful but you can do that same
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  process with mint
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  leaves uh rose petals uh rosemary and it's just a beautiful
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  garnish especially in
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  the winter because it has that sparkle to it it just makes it
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  look more special
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  than if you were just gonna you know lay a sprig of rosemary
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  next to something when
• 10:29
  you started making pies do you remember how old you were and
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  what is it about pies
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  SPEAKER_00: that captured your imagination
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  SPEAKER_01: Well, I really like the handmade nature of it.
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  SPEAKER_01: The fact that, I mean, before I made pies, I was a cookie baker.
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  SPEAKER_01: Cookies were my thing because that's the easiest thing when you're a kid.
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  SPEAKER_01: And I baked since I was basically able to.
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  My mom was a wedding cake baker,
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  so we had all the supplies and all the inspiration was there.
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  SPEAKER_01: But I didn't start making pie.
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  And my mom,
• 11:01
  she always,
• 11:02
  she loved pie too,
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  but she always used the pie crust from the box.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: which, um, I kind of hate, but she just didn't like rolling out dough.
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  SPEAKER_01: So she just,
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: she just used the,
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: the,
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  SPEAKER_01: the rolled,
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: the rolled up version,
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: but you can buy better versions than the red box.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are some Joe's is surprisingly good.
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  SPEAKER_01: I think that, um, yeah, whole foods has one too.
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  That's butter instead of like the other weird oils that are in
• 11:32
  the,
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  the other one.
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  SPEAKER_01: But, um,
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  SPEAKER_01: I think maybe all of my love of like rolling out cookies,
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  SPEAKER_01: and then you kind of turn that into rolling out dough.
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  SPEAKER_01: It was a learning curve.
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  I don't think that we just all naturally can know how to make a
• 11:47
  pie crust and how
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: to roll it out.
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  SPEAKER_01: And you have to practice a little bit.
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  But the lovely part of a pie versus a cake or a cookie is that
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  there's just more of
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  SPEAKER_01: your hands involved.
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  And because I make so many things electronically and digitally,
• 12:02
  because I'm a
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: book cover designer.
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  So to be able to make something physically with your hands is
• 12:09
  both relaxing and satisfying.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it makes like a more special finished product.
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  It makes a great gift or something to share with people to
• 12:21
  bring to the office or a
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  SPEAKER_01: party or a potluck.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it just feels like a pie has a slightly
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: more personal touch to it than maybe a cookie does or a bar,
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  SPEAKER_01: even though I love cooking and bars,
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: don't get me wrong.
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  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about your other books.
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  So this is the homemade pie cookbook is the first book I've
• 12:41
  written by myself.
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  SPEAKER_01: My book just before this one was called Gathering Grays.
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  SPEAKER_01: And I wrote with my former colleague who is also an art director.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: She she does the she works at HarperCollins.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Mumtaz Mustafa.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I have it right here.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is a gathering place.
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  SPEAKER_01: That's beautiful.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: This is more of like a party table spread book.
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  SPEAKER_01: So Mumtaz is brilliant with savory food.
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  SPEAKER_01: And I'm more of a baker.
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  SPEAKER_01: She's from Pakistan.
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  SPEAKER_01: So she's got this...
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  SPEAKER_01: really broad sense of spice and just brilliant with the savory.
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  So we split this book up by anything that was baked in the oven
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  I've made.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then pretty much everything that was cooked on stove she made.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it's divided by country.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a really fun international book.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: style party book.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you brought it to my attention.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'll for sure put that in the notes.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's quite fat.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: There's over like 170 recipes in it.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a lightweight book.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then the book before that I wrote with my mother.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, look at that.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Cute.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Christmas baking.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And this one is, it does well every holiday season.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of, it's been out for, I think, five years.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's kind of a perennial, hopefully, at this point.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just, you know, all my favorite.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: But Christmas baking.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, baked goods.
• 14:13
  There's a,
• 14:13
  there's a,
• 14:14
  um,
• 14:14
  breakfast chapter in there for Christmas morning.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Holiday high points.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: What's next?
• 14:19
  I got my way and who knows if I will,
• 14:21
  um,
• 14:22
  I would like to do a fall baking book.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: What would that look like?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking Apple, you have quite a like pumpkin chapter in here.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: They would have all of those, those, those cozy.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: It would just be all the cozy things.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I just love the styling of fall too.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Fall is one of my favorite seasons.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that would be super fun.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I also have another idea called,
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: I want to call it Baking Paradise,
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: which would be all tropical recipes.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great idea.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not something we've seen before.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen it, no.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: I have a second home in Guatemala,
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: so I could do a lot of photography there,
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: which would be fun.
• 15:02
  Yeah,
• 15:04
  the first few recipes in the homemade pie cookbook were shot in
• 15:08
  Guatemala,
• 15:08
  the line.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Mango and the hummingbird pie.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I got all of those props down there.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and beautiful colors.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: You also dedicate like a whole spread to apples for pie.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we just talked about this on our TV show that I'm on.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And Honeycrisp is obviously an apple I use a lot because it's Minnesota.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Granny Smith is an apple that I think works really well for pies.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do you mix your types of apples when you're making apple pie?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I do.
• 15:44
  The Pink Lady is actually one of my favorite ones now that I've
• 15:46
  been baking so many apple pies.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's got like a tartness to it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, you can mix them for sure.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Just don't ever use them back in Tosh.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Or like the red delicious, which is now that's the worst selling apple.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think they're very delicious.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: They're not.
• 16:06
  And it's kind of funny that like that was like our lunchbox
• 16:09
  apple for basically our whole lives.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why did we have to eat terrible apples?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad they've gotten better.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, there's some I mean, pretty much every variety is better.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, pretty much.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: When you make a galette or a tart,
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: let's just say savory,
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: do you adjust that dough at all or do you use your same basic pie dough?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I use the same.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: the tart is a totally different dough,
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: but the galette is the same pie dough as the regular pies.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: You could use the maple pie.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: You could make the maple crust for a galette as well.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: If it's sweet, I wouldn't put it on a savory.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: When would you ever make,
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: like,
• 16:52
  I love the idea of slab pies because I think they're kind of
• 16:55
  cool looking,
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: but they seem like they're just not great.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know who's going to get the middle piece.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's just always like so messy and kind of falls apart.
• 17:07
  I love the idea of like everyone getting a little bit of crust
• 17:10
  on the edge and then
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: having their perfect little triangle.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do you serve slab pies a lot?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And am I missing the boat here?
• 17:17
  Not a lot,
• 17:17
  but I would bring them to more of like a potluck or something.
• 17:21
  The same thing that I would bring bars to,
• 17:22
  although you really can't pick it up and eat it.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's going to be kind of a more gooey center than a bar.
• 17:31
  But it's just,
• 17:33
  you get a little bit more,
• 17:35
  it's going to go farther than a pie.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: So if you just want to bring one thing and it needs to cover more people,
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: I would bring a slab pie for that,
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: like a potluck,
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: summer potluck.
• 17:45
  People always ask me what my favorite recipe is in my book and
• 17:49
  I always have the
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: dumbest answers.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if I ask you what's your favorite recipe in your book,
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: do you like have a answer that you're set on?
• 17:57
  Well,
• 17:57
  the lemon meringue tart on the cover is one of my favorite
• 18:02
  recipes in the book.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I've never been a big lemon meringue pie person.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know why.
• 18:07
  This has a Swiss meringue and it's a little bit different than
• 18:10
  the lemon meringue
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: pies that we all grew up eating.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I also feel like
• 18:16
  Lemon meringue pie has too much lemon to like the crust is too
• 18:19
  little to the lemon.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like the ratio.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: The big like meringue.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: So this I feel like is the perfect ratio of meringue to lemon to crust.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's got a thick shortbread crust on it.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: So it's actually kind of reminiscent of those lemon bars.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: And you're from the Midwest.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: So you probably had those lemon bars that everybody likes to crust.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like an elevated version of lemon bars.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:50
  I'm going to have to try it because I always make something
• 18:52
  with lemon for Easter.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's sort of just something I do for the big Easter brunch.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe I'll use this as my recipe this year.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: How long does it take you to work on a book?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, it's hard to
• 19:09
  Give a full,
• 19:10
  like,
• 19:10
  because there's a lot of time thinking about it and planning.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like my first step to doing a book is writing the table of contents.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Is that what you do too?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I do a spreadsheet of all the recipes I think I want.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then I sort of like try to organize them in some way.
• 19:28
  And then I start like thinking about the narrative and where
• 19:31
  I'm going to,
• 19:32
  right.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:33
  And so there's like this long,
• 19:34
  like thinking period that you're not,
• 19:36
  it's just,
• 19:37
  I don't know.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's,
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: it's hard to put a time on how long it takes,
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: but once the,
• 19:43
  once everything is set and I've gotten a few shots done and a
• 19:47
  few recipes tested,
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: I can,
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: I can do a book in a year and a half or a year.
• 19:52
  If I'm really focused on it,
• 19:54
  but I'm also doing all the photography and the design.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's, it's a pretty intense process.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I just submit my photographs and my word docs and you know,
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: the designer makes it look pretty and gosh,
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: you have to do the whole thing.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: That is harder.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:12
  And I don't have to,
• 20:13
  but you know,
• 20:14
  you've done this much and I am a designer.
• 20:16
  It's kind of hard to hand the design to somebody else when
• 20:20
  you're,
• 20:20
  when that's like what I do.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about other books that cookbooks that you love,
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: whether from a design feature or from just like that,
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: you go back to them and use them a lot.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Give me like a couple of your favorites.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:37
  The Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook,
• 20:39
  I don't know if you have that,
• 20:40
  it's got an orange spine.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like a go-to, like, oh, I want to make banana bread.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's just so reliable.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that one is always in my kitchen.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: I also really like the Bake from Scratch series.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Have you seen those big – they're really huge –
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're not written all by the same person.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's an editor that collects recipes.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's based on the magazine, I believe.
• 21:04
  But the thing I love about those is there's so many recipes in
• 21:07
  those books.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: They're just loaded with recipes.
• 21:10
  And then you can just kind of page through and get all kinds of
• 21:12
  inspiration and ideas.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I love those.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a big fan of Erin Jean McDowell, who is also a pie person.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: I like watching her on her videos and stuff.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do you watch a lot of people on YouTube?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Not a lot, no.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Mostly on Instagram, I'm watching the quicker reels that come through.
• 21:35
  One of the things that made me so inspired to want to do the
• 21:38
  fall thing is when the
• 21:40
  fall baking stuff starts coming out on Instagram and all these
• 21:43
  beautiful baked
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: goods and this wonderful mood of cozy comes through.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Creators are just amazing at how they
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I put this mood out there and I just, I love it.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty, pretty delightful.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was just going to think of another question I had for you,
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: but it totally just fell out of my brain right as I thought about it.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do you,
• 22:08
  have you ever had the chance to meet like any other bakers in
• 22:12
  any of your cookbook
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: travels?
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: specifically bakers.
• 22:18
  It seems like most of the books I've worked on have been more
• 22:21
  chef related,
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: like cooks,
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: like Melissa Clark.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I worked on some of her cookbooks.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: I did the photography for Brie McCoy.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: She, I don't know if you've seen her, but it's called the cook's book.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: I did her photography for that book.
• 22:37
  So I've that kind of stuff,
• 22:39
  but I haven't done any specifically for bakers.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if in your, in your work life,
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like,
• 22:47
  like when someone gives you a recipe and you're like the person
• 22:51
  that photographs it
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: and does the final,
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: like,
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: is that an appealing piece of work for you?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: I love to do that too.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:59
  Yeah,
• 22:59
  actually got a couple of them in the works right now that are
• 23:03
  coming down the pipeline.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of creators that do that.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't realize that,
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: but that they,
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: they maybe have a favorite recipe or they have recipes,
• 23:12
  but they don't have the time or they don't want to be the one
• 23:16
  who puts it together
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: for the book.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: So they hire all that out.
• 23:20
  Do you get any jobs like that that are one-offs or do you
• 23:23
  mostly just do like a whole project?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Mostly a whole project.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's, it's interesting.
• 23:28
  There's a lot of people out there that will cook your stuff if
• 23:30
  you find the right person.
• 23:31
  And,
• 23:32
  um,
• 23:34
  I didn't realize that that was such a robust business,
• 23:36
  but apparently it is.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do you, um, keep like a food blog yourself or is it mostly just the book?
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Mostly,
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm mostly in the book,
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: but,
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: um,
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: we have,
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: I have my friend who wrote,
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: um,
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Gathering Graze with me have a,
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: we,
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: we have an Instagram page.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's called spice and sugar.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, she's the spice and sugar table because spice and sugar was taken.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: And she's the spice and I'm the sugar, of course.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's sweet.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys share it.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you just post when you're inspired.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: And we don't, we haven't posted as much as we should.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes like what sounds good and feels good just falls away.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's no reason to rhyme.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Just all of a sudden you're like, eh, not as interested in that anymore.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 24:21
  I think we're and we're so both of us are so focused in the
• 24:24
  book world and our
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: career careers are very busy.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I feel like to really maintain one of those,
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: robust social media sites,
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: you have to be pretty much focused on it.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, some people post like on Facebook like 12 times a day.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they manage it all.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: But do you watch any baking shows?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like are you a great British Bake Off aficionado?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: I watch almost no TV.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I love that.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you have chickens too, right?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I have chickens.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: And duck.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And do you eat the duck eggs and the chicken eggs, obviously?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, usually the duck eggs I use in baking.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, you know, it has a slightly different flavor.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're not used to it, it's kind of like, it feels a little weird.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: But they're, they're actually the higher fat content in a duck egg.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they're really great for baking, especially for cakes and
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love that.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I ever thought about duck eggs in context of baking.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's so neat.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're a little larger.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you might sometimes you have to be a little like careful because,
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: they might end up being too much egg in here,
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: depending on how many eggs are in the like,
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: if there's four eggs,
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: you would probably only put three.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can kind of see it too when you have the size.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: The book is the homemade pie cookbook.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's a hundred pie tart and galette recipes for every season.
• 25:46
  Like I said,
• 25:46
  it's beautiful,
• 25:47
  but even if you're like not thinking you're a pie person,
• 25:52
  I really think people would like this book because there's ice
• 25:54
  cream pies.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: There is icebox pies.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Again, there's a lot of savory.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's tarts.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's some cookies in here, some sauces.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's just a lot of different things.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: When I started to go through the book,
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was pleasantly surprised that there's a lot to offer here.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: There's whoopie pies.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Your whoopie pie recipe looked great.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Very delicious.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everybody loves a good whoopie pie, don't they?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I might be stretching it a little bit with that one,
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: but I'm like,
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: it's called pie,
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: so.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pie, that's right.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's Laura Kleinstra, The Homemade Pie Cookbook.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being with me today, Laura.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And when you get your next book ready, give me a call anytime.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: I love talking to you.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all right, bye-bye.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.