Hmmm - I'm guessing it's for flavour & tenderness?

I love buttermilk, but rarely buy it because I can't use it all quickly enough, so I've taken to using plain yoghurt as a substitute in baking.

When I need buttermilk for my muffins, I sub 2/3 yogurt with 1/3 cup milk. It works beautifully. I haven't bought buttermilk in years.

Yogurt and milk can be a good sub. I just think it would be nice if you could buy buttermilk by the pint or half pint.

I agree about buying small amounts of buttermilk, but considering that the big chain stores don't carry it, and don't have quarts of normal milk (only gallons and half gallons), I'm happy to have come home with a quart today. :) I do have buttermilk powder, which I use in waffles, and yoghurt, but I hate substituting. It may work, but when I do it, it's not the same and I end up regretting it. No time for pie this weekend, but it's on my list to try just so I can say I did...

Buttermilk in pie crust is a new idea to me, never heard of it before this thread. But what I'm really surprised at are the comments about container size. I have no idea where y'all live, but here in south Texas, buttermilk is available in pints, quarts, and half gallons. Don't think I've seen it in full gallons. 'Regular' milk is available in pints, quarts, half gallons and gallons in all percentages.

Rusty

Are there dairies in your area, Rusty? We are very far away from them where I live.

I live in Iowa where we have lots of dairy....and are very close to Wisconsin. There are a goodly number of dairys in Florida....and unless you live in Miami or the panhandle you should have one fairly near. I can buy buttermilk by the quart and the pint....and there is always some buttermilk in my refrigerator...it lasts well beyond the sell by date.
Never tried it in pie crust....I was always told by my mother and grandmother that milk makes a crust tough.
For the past few years I have been making a crust with butter and vodka for half the liquid and like it a lot. The vodka adds acid and allows you to add a fair amount of liquid so you have an easy working crust, but it evaporated in a flash in the oven leaving behind flakes.
You can bet I will try a buttermilk crust....maybe today!!

Rusty, we're in Southern CA, and I've only seen buttermilk in quarts...as far as I recall. Definitely no pints. As for regular milk, all the sizes you mentioned are available.

There is a dairy about 50 or so miles from where I live. But I wouldn't have thought that would make a difference. Why would transporting buttermilk be any different than transporting milk, or any other dairy product, for that matter?

Rusty

I'm clueless as to why it would be any different. For years I've questioned why no buttermilk in smaller sizes. They certainly sell whipping cream and half & half in small containers.

It's not where the dairy is but where the packaging plant is that will affect the transport of different sizes.

My surmise in SoCal, where we have both dairies and processing plants, is that some MBA decided that there wasn't enough sell through to give limited shelf space to multiple sizes. As I said, the big national chain stores here don't even have buttermilk, and only have specialty milks in quarts. Normal milk only comes bigger. The specialty stores have quarts. If you want pints of milk, your best bet is convenience stores, though here and there supermarkets have them packaged an priced as single serving beverages.

Linda, I look forward to your report on the buttermilk crust!

I learned fairly recently about the alcohol--it evaporates much faster than water, and is supposed to help with loft.

Yes...would also like to hear feedback on the buttermilk crust. :-)

I'm late to the party, but I wanted to add this bit of info. Several years ago, I saved a pie crust recipe from the King Arthur Flour website that was entitled, "Our Favorite Pie Crust." It was from their Autumn 2001 issue of "The Baking Sheet."

Anyhow, the recipe included an optional tablespoon of buttermilk powder. The recipe notes said the buttermilk powder was for tenderness. The recipe has since been removed from the website, but I've still got my printed copy. It uses half butter and half shortening and also includes some baking powder and vinegar. FWIW, I made the pie crust once and noted that the dough was very easy to work with.

KAF also has a current recipe for whole wheat pie dough that includes an optional tablespoon of buttermilk powder. This recipe is adapted from the KAF Whole Grain Baking cookbook. So I guess the idea of using buttermilk in pie crust may be unusual but not unheard of.

Oh, yes. I did a search before I posted this and found lots and lots of recipes for buttermilk crust, but scanning fast, the only one that included a reason was the one I mentioned saying it was for flavor. I appreciate your notes on using the buttermilk powder a lot.

I also did a quick check online. Along with the whole wheat crust, KAF has an all-butter crust with (optional) buttermilk powder.

I can sometimes find pints of buttermilk at Walmart.

FYI, you can make more buttermilk using commercial buttermilk. Measure 1 cup of buttermilk into a quart jar and add regular milk (skim, lo-fat, whatever) to fill the jar. Add a lid and leave it on the counter overnight (sometimes longer). When the mixture has thickened somewhat, refrigerate. When that runs low, you can repeat the process using your home brewed buttermilk for starter.

Anyhoo, I'm totally going to try this piecrust. Have never heard of it before.

(Another great use for buttermilk is Pioneer Woman's Onion Strings recipe. )

Hm... My T&T whole wheat recipe has orange juice in it, IIRC, so maybe the KAF buttermilk powder is for acid?

Ci_lantro, good info. But that requires having milk to culture, right? So I'd still have to go to the store... :)

plllog, from comments I saw online, it seems the buttermilk powder helps with both flavor and flakiness due to the acid. I noticed one other recipe on KAF's site that calls for both buttermilk powder and vinegar. I found recipes on both Epicurious and Joy the Baker's sites. I might give one of those a try. My pie crust of choice for years has been Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee. I make it with part butter/part shortening. As I mentioned, I prefer all butter crusts for crostatas/galettes. For the most part, I make shortbread crusts for tarts, so all butter there, too.