Got a Wet Bottom?

     Perhaps the singular most item associated with the Pennsylvania Germans is Shoo Fly Pie.  But if you didn't grow up in Penn's Woods you probably aren't familiar with this unique kind of morning pie.  So what exactly is it?  Some have attempted to describe it as a sort of coffee cake with a gooey molasses bottom, which we locals call wet bottom as opposed to another variety without that layer, the dry bottom pie.
     It is similar to the 17th Century European Treacle Tart also made with molasses.  Treacle is the generic title for any syrup by-product of refined sugar cane.  The early German immigrants made shoo fly pie from the available provisions they brought with them: flour, brown sugar, molasses, lard, salt, and spices.  Frugal as they were and with limited fresh produce in their first season in the New World they devised a pie that utilized what they had on hand.  Another advantage was that it did not need refrigeration and withstood microbial infestation.  Simply put, it would not go bad.
     But why the strange name?  The most common and sensible theory is that shoo fly pies were originally baked in an outdoor kitchen and when set out on a table to cool, pools of the sweet and sticky molasses would occasionally appear on the surface of the pie, inevitably attracting flies which the women would shoo away.
     There is another interesting explanation that states that the shoo fly pie has a French origin, that the crumb topping resembled the surface of the cauliflower, which in French is "cheux-fleur."  Gradually it transliterated and was pronounced"shoofly." 
     I find it strange, however, that when I visited Paris and looked in the front window of the Patisseries there I saw many delightful and mouthwatering creations, but not one shoo fly pie!

     So how does one go about baking a shoo fly pie?  Watch the video on this link to find out.  For the exact recipe chust click on this link.  And never pass up the opportunity to enjoy some wet bottom shoo fly pie with your morning coffee!