What is the indispensable ingredient of every good pie or pie? The answer is simple: pie crusts or pie crusts.
If we take a look into the past, we will realize that, some 100 years ago, there were no shops for pie crusts or gibnica, and especially there were no shops or large markets where we could buy them, as an almost commercial package.
Housewives or redušas of that time (reduša - Wiktionary.org source: a female person who is in charge of preparing food, in the house, at a wedding, celebration, etc., who runs the household, housewife, a female person who runs the entire household.) of that time, they independently prepared the crusts in order to later make pies or gibanica from them.
How were pie crusts made at the beginning of the 20th century?
They kneaded the dough as for a scone, only instead of water they added whey. They would knead the dough harder. When the dough is well kneaded and kneaded ("ispretiska"), they would separate a piece of dough and take a rolling pin, which they would sprinkle well with flour and then they would stretch ("roll") the crusts with their knees. While they were doing this, the women sat on the ground, and they would hold a racket over their outstretched legs and stretch the bark. They tried to make the crusts as thin as possible.
They would then fold the very thin crust into four parts (in half, then into quarters), and then bake it on a heated stove, which had to be clean, i.e. not to be covered with ashes. During that time, the bowl would be constantly heated by fire from the bottom side. First, they would briefly bake one half, and then the other half.
They would stack the baked crusts on top of each other, and later make a pie (gibanica) out of them.
What is a racket?
A racket, is a circular board with a shorter handle, on which bread dough is kneaded and raised. This board was also used when putting the dough/bread in the bowl and under the bowl, or in the oven.
What is a knee?
The knee (kolenika, source: Wiktionary.org) is a thin wooden stick, pointed on both sides, on which yarn is wound during weaving. The forerunner of today's rolling pin.
What is sach?
Sach or vrešnik is a spherical metal, ceramic or earthen lid under which bread, buns, pies, meat and the like are baked on the hearth. They were created from a combination of a shell, but without a hole in the middle of the bottom and a cover - a honeycomb. The term sach in Serbia usually refers to the metal cover that was replaced by the vrsnik, the cover that followed the crepluja, back in the 19th century. Crepulja is a dish for preparing food, made of baked earth, the most common and oldest kitchen ceramic.
And how old-fashioned pita (gibanica) was made in a pan or a crucible, under the sach - we'll talk about that next time. 🙂
Source: book Serbian national dishes and drinks, edited by Dr. Jovan Erdeljanović, Stanoje M. Mijatović: Serbian national dishes (with an appendix on drinks) in Levč and Temnić, in Belgrade, printed by the State Printing Office of the Kingdom of Serbia, 1908.
READ: WHERE CAN I BUY THE BOOK TRADITIONAL RECIPES OF HOME SERBIAN CUISINE?
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