Galatopita (Traditional Baked Milk Custard Pie)

Some years ago I happened to be in a small village in the north of the Peloponese called Synevro. I have spoken to you about that village in the past.

So, I am sitting with friends eating at the only tavern of the village and after having our main course we ask the nice lady there if she has anything for dessert.

Yes, she said I have a traditional Galatopita! Wonderful we replied, bring us three pieces.

And then this is one of those moments that is stuck in your mind when you try the dessert and then you find yourself in the taverna's kitchen trying to find out how this amazing recipe came to be..

The nice lady shyly responds that there are no secret ingredients in the recipe, it is very straightforward and you can find it at Akis's website.

And for those of you who do not know, Akis is the person I had working for for 8 years developing recipes and this particular recipe I know only too well! But it certainly did not taste that way..

So, I continued asking questions whether she changed some ingredients or some changes in the amounts etc but she said no...

And then it hit me.

What sort of milk did you use? I asked. Oh, she said a friend of mine gave me some goat milk a really tasty one, it is springtime you see and so the milk is at its best.. and also some butter made from that goat milk as well..
And that explained it all.

So especially in those recipes with few ingredients and spices, what really helps them to stand out is the quality of the ingredients. Nothing else. Try to find the best milk, the best butter the best anything for that recipe.

So, yesterday I tried to recreate that recipe as I had friends coming over. I used very good goat milk and sheep butter. Changed a few things in the original recipe and I am presenting it to you!

It turned out almost as good as that one...

Let's see what we will need.

Diffuculty: 1 of 3

Duration:10 minutes prep and 50 mins cooking time

Serves:8

Ingredients

140 g sugar

rind of an orange

800 g goats milk

60 g semolina and a bit more for the dish

20 g rice flour

2 medium eggs

1 pinch of salt

60 g of sheep or goat butter and a bit more for the dish

For the topping

2 tblsp milk

1/2 tblasp sugar

Method

Preheat the oven at 160C fan forced

Butter and use some semolina to coat a 23 cm diameter oven-proof dish.

In a bowl we mix up the sugar with the rind and rub it through our fingers to flavor all the sugar.

Place the milk in a small pot and add the sugar as well. Do not stir, Bring to almost a boil and remove from heat.

In the bowl mix the eggs, semolina, rice flour and salt.

With the use of a ladle we bring some of the hot milk mixture in the bowl to temper the eggs. Mix thoroughly! Add a few more ladles and mix.

Then bring all that mixture back to the pot and heat it up under low heat, stirring often till it thickens.

Add the butter when you remove the pot from the heat and gently stir it in the mixture.

Empty the mixture in the oven-proof dish and level the surface.

Mix in a small bowl the extra milk and sugar and with a pastry brush dab it on the surface of the custard.

Bake for 30-40 minutes depending how thick is the dish.

Serve with honey, cinnamon etc.. but I would suggest nothing...

Be careful and not overbake... it becomes very dense and looses its moisture.