RECIPES: A Southern chef digs deep to find ‘Treasury’ of baking
Cheryl Day grew up in Los Angeles. But her mother was from Alabama, and she made sure her youngest child stayed connected to the South.
At age 8, Day began to spend summers with her grandmother in Dothan, Alabama. It was a formative experience that awakened a love for all things Southern, especially the food: biscuits, cornbread and her grandmother Queen’s Famous Icebox Rolls; pecan and lemon meringue pies; plain pound cake and show-stopping layer cakes.
“That’s why I decided that this was a place that I wanted to call home,” says Day, 60, who with her husband, Griffith, opened Savannah’s Back in the Day Bakery in 2002. Twenty years and five cookbooks later, the self-taught bakers are icons of the Southern food world, known for creating gorgeous cupcakes, cookies, biscuits and breads — and for their vintage flair.
But by her own account, the menu has been “kind of all over the place,” what with Griffith’s artisan breads, the restaurant’s breakfast sandwiches, and their very pretty but perhaps somewhat generic party cakes and cupcakes.
For her first solo effort, “Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking” (Artisan, $40), Day’s goal was to tell the epic story of Southern baking. “I wanted it to be a book that people would look to for anything that they could possibly think of (in the regional canon).”
And she wanted to elevate the biscuit, to accord it the same lofty status as the French croissant.
As time passed and the deadline loomed, the project began to take a surprising, and deeply personal, twist.
When the pandemic forced Back in the Day to shut down temporarily in March 2020, Day found time to tie up loose ends on her book. Then came Black Lives Matter, a reckoning that caused her to take a fresh look at her family tree.
When Day’s mother, Janie Queen, died in 1984, she left behind a journal filled with “notes, letters, poetry, songs, and recipes,” family lore that inspired Day to open her bakery. But she was just 22 when she lost her mother, and she needed time to process the complex family legacy.
Though she’d always known that her great-great-grandmother, Hannah Queen Grubbs, was born a slave, it wasn’t until she took a deep dive into her mother’s papers that the significance of what she calls her “genetic code” sank in. Like Day, Hannah Queen Grubbs was a pastry cook, known for her buttermilk biscuits, sweet potato pies, lemon pound cakes, and coconut layer cakes.
Her ancestor’s tale is a powerful example of the incalculable influence Black cooks had on Southern cuisine.
As Day puts it in her book: “Most of the Southern recipes we know and love today were created by enslaved or formerly enslaved women who were cooks and bakers just like my great-great-grandmother.”
In the end, “Treasury” succeeds on multiple fronts.
With more than 200 recipes, it’s a remarkable resource. In its 400 pages, you will find instructions on how to make hush puppies and cheese straws; waffles and beignets; Chocolate Church Cake and Lemon Cheese Layer Cake; Peach Lattice Pie and Coconut Cream Pie — plus savory Oyster Pot Pies and Summer Tomato Pie, among many other dishes.
It’s also a poignant account of self-discovery and empowerment, of honoring the pain of the past, and the promise of the future. “I didn’t know,” Day said, “how I could write a book about Southern baking and not acknowledge where we came from, where we are going, and where we are.”
RECIPES
These three recipes are just a smidge of the riches you will find in Cheryl Day’s massive “Treasury of Southern Baking.” For this article, I tested five recipes: Skillet Cornbread; Jam Thumbprint Cookies (a great way to purge accumulated jars of leftover preserves); Sunday Pancakes (perfect for an intimate meal with a loved one); Fruit Pie Bars (a delightful opportunity to mix and match seasonal fruit) and Cold-Oven Pound Cake (a revelatory technique that yields an otherworldly brown, crispy crust).
Sunday Pancakes
The addition of whipped egg whites to buttery batter makes these pancakes fluffy and ethereal. Serve with butter and syrup.
— Adapted from “Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking” by Cheryl Day (Artisan Books, $40)
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus (optional) 1 tablespoon butter, melted, for cooking pancakes
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, melted butter, egg yolks and vanilla.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment (or in a medium mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer), beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
- Add egg-yolk mixture to flour mixture; mix well. Fold about one-quarter of egg whites into batter to lighten it; then fold in rest of the whites.
- If desired, put a heatproof platter in a 200-degree oven to keep pancakes warm while you cook remaining batches.
- Heat a griddle or heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Spray griddle with nonstick spray or brush with some of 1 tablespoon melted butter. Working in batches, pour about 1/2 cup batter per pancake onto hot griddle and cook until the edges begin to set and small bubbles appear on the top, about 3 minutes. Peek underneath a pancake to make sure it is golden in color. Flip and cook the pancakes for about another minute or 2. Serve immediately. Makes 8-10 pancakes.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per pancake, based on 8: 402 calories (percent of calories from fat, 62), 9 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 28 grams total fat (16 grams saturated), 161 milligrams cholesterol, 831 milligrams sodium.
Fruit Pie Bars
These versatile bars are a good way to use any seasonal fruit on hand, from blueberries and raspberries to peaches and plums. (I tested the recipe with strawberries and blueberries.) Frozen berries also work nicely.
— Adapted from “Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking” by Cheryl Day (Artisan Books, $40)
- For crust and topping:
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 pound (3 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
- For filling:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 cups fresh berries or sliced fruit or 2 (16-ounce) packages frozen berries, thawed and drained
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line with parchment, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides of the pan.
- To make crust and topping: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer), combine flour, sugar and salt and mix on low speed until thoroughly blended. With the mixer running, add the cubed butter a few pieces at a time, mixing until the mixture looks crumbly.
- Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the mixture (for the crumb topping) to a container and refrigerate while you bake the crust.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Press the rest of the mixture evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool for at least 10 minutes on a wire rack.
- To make filling: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, flour and salt. Add eggs and sour cream; whisk until smooth. Gently fold in fruit.
- Pour filling over the baked crust. Sprinkle the reserved crumb topping evenly on top.
- Bake the bars for 45 to 55 minutes, until the top is golden brown and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before cutting into squares. (For a sharper cut, chill for several hours before slicing.) The bars can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Makes 12-16 bars.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per bar, based on 12: 641 calories (percent of calories from fat, 39), 7 grams protein, 93 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 28 grams total fat (17 grams saturated), 132 milligrams cholesterol, 130 milligrams sodium.
Cold-Oven Pound Cake
Cheryl Day traces this recipe to the early 20th century, when cooks were replacing wood-fired ovens with gas flames. Putting the cake in a cold oven, then turning it on, allowed cooks a bit of respite from the heat. “This cake bakes slowly as the temperature of the oven rises, which allows more time for the leavening agents to lift the cake,” Day writes in her latest book. “It has a fine delicate crumb and develops a thin golden crust that is unlike that of any other cake.” It’s a fine base for strawberries and whipped cream.
— Adapted from “Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking” by Cheryl Day (Artisan Books, $40)
- 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)
- Butter a 10-inch Bundt pan, making sure to get into all the crevices. Lightly dust the pan with flour, tapping the pan on the counter to shake out the excess.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large measuring cup or small bowl, mix together the milk and vanilla.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer), cream butter on medium-high speed until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Turn speed down to low and gradually add sugar. Then increase speed to medium-high and continue beating for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is very light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low again; add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary. Add flour mixture in thirds, alternating with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour and scraping down sides and bottom of bowl as necessary.
- Using the rubber spatula, incorporate any ingredients hiding at the bottom of the bowl, making sure the batter is completely mixed. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Place pan on the middle rack of the cold oven and set the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 60 to 70 minutes, until the cake is golden on top; a cake tester inserted in the center should come out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then invert it onto another rack, turn right-side up, and let cool completely.
- Dust the cooled cake generously with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
- The cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Serves 12 to 16.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving, based on 12: 585 calories (percent of calories from fat, 41), 8 grams protein, 80 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 27 grams total fat (16 grams saturated), 157 milligrams cholesterol, 276 milligrams sodium.Sign up for the AJC Food and Dining Newsletter
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