Hymn to human ingenuity: Poor Student Pie

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

There are days when there are still many days before the salary, there is nothing left of food left, but you painfully want sweets. It is in such cases that the Poor Student pie comes to the rescue, like the magic genie from the famous advertisement: a few easy passes and voila - pastries on the table. The preparation is so simple that even a schoolboy can easily bake it, and the set of products fully justifies the name of the pie.

Name history

According to the unspoken version, this simple pastry is named so due to the fact that in the difficult days of perestroika, it was difficult for students of higher educational institutions (especially those from other cities) to buy food. Food problems were very acute. But if you consider that student resourcefulness and optimism are boundless, then sometimes amazing ideas were born in the hallways of the hostel, even in the kitchen, and the “Poor Student” pie with jam is proof of this.

From simple and franklycheap products, resourceful experimenters have built a cake that is amazing in taste and simplicity, which can easily turn into a cake if you add cream.

Required Ingredients

The Poor Student pie recipe is absolutely universal, since its main components can be replaced by similar ones.

• 1 cup of any pitted jam, jam and marmalade will also work. Also, the variety of jam will determine the color of the future cake: plum, blueberry, currant will give a darker shade, and raspberry, apple or cherry - lighter. Fans of this unpretentious pastry claim that apricot jam produces the most delicious result.
• 1 glass of yogurt, if not, you can replace fermented baked milk, yogurt and even sour milk. Some users tried to cook the dough even with fresh milk: the cake seems to be good, but not as fluffy as on kefir.
• about 3 cups of wheat flour. The amount depends not only on the gluten in the wheat grain, but also on the density of the jam.
• 1-2 eggs.
• 120-150 grams of granulated sugar.
• 1 tsp no soda top.

Preparing dough

Mix jam with sugar in a wide bowl, add soda and mix well. Literally immediately, the mass will begin to foam, rise, this is an indicator that the acidic environment of the jam has reacted with alkaline - soda, thanks to which the cake becomes fluffy when baking.

Let the mass stand for five minutes, and then pour inmilk product and mix again. It is on kefir that the “Poor Student” pie turns out to be the most magnificent and airy, to match the biscuit. Beat the eggs in a small bowl with a fork until a uniform consistency, add to the dough, and then send the sifted flour to the same place: 1/2 of the entire portion of the rhinestone, and then a little of the rest. This is done so that the dough does not turn out too thick or, conversely, liquid, because its condition depends on the density of the jam and the dairy product. Ideally, the dough for the "Poor Student" pie should be like thick sour cream: slightly floating, but not liquid, like jelly.

Details of baking

It is better to take a baking dish with a hole in the middle - the cake will bake faster and will have a beautiful appearance, curly silicone molds are also well suited for this purpose. Baking is easily removed from them and does not stick. Lightly grease the mold with oil, place on a baking sheet and pour the dough into it, if necessary, leveling the surface of the future Poor Student pie with a spoon.

Send to the oven, preheated to a temperature of 180-190 degrees. The baking time depends on the thickness of the cake, so after the first forty minutes it should be periodically checked with a wooden toothpick, piercing the dough to the bottom: it should be dry. It is also not recommended to open the oven doors in the first half hour of baking, as the airy and tender dough can settle, turning a delicious cake into a “rubber” layer. Cool the finished cake on a wire rack, then decorate as you wish.

Designing the finished dish

When the cake is completely cool, you can sprinkle it with plenty of powdered sugar, justifying the name. If the assortment has thick jam (orange or strawberry), then you can put it in a thin layer on top of the cake. The "poor student" can become richer if the cake is cut lengthwise into two layers and layered with sour cream.

Preparing it is also simple: beat one glass of sour cream or heavy cream with a mixer into a lush foam, gradually adding 1/2 cup of powdered sugar mixed with a pinch of vanilla. Cover the top of the pie with the rest of the cream and lightly sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Not a pie, but a feast for the eyes!

Very poor student

How to make a cake if there is not even milk, not to mention eggs and sour cream? The answer is in vegans who do just fine without these foods:

• Brew 1 tbsp. l. black tea in 250 grams of boiling water, after 5 minutes strain through a strainer and dissolve in it 150 grams of sugar and 4 tbsp. l. any jam.
• 280 grams of wheat flour mixed with 1 tsp. baking powder, add ground cinnamon (1\3 tsp) and the same amount of ginger.
• Combine sweet tea leaves with 90 grams of vegetable oil, add flour with spices to them and knead the dough. If there are nuts or dried fruits, add a whole handful, this will make the taste even better.

Put the dough into a greased form and send it to the oven to bake at a temperature of 180degrees. It takes about forty minutes (we check as usual: with a wooden stick). The pie in this interpretation turns out to be less magnificent than on kefir, but at the same time quite tasty. A special perk of this dessert is that the pie can be prepared during the days of Christian fasting, when fast animal products are not eaten.