Exchange Story: A Master Baker Enlivens our Holidays

Mary Liepold
Serbian Gibanica (2017)
cheese pie in earthenware pot
12” diameter x 8”

A while back, Mary L. had prepared a nice dinner casserole for us, and she agreed to do more baking for us for the holidays.  So, for Thanksgiving, alongside other pies for her own family, she baked a wonderful apple pie for our big family dinner. 

But she surpassed herself with another baked item for a New Year’s Day party at my neighbor’s house.  Mary gave me an earthenware pot containing a still-to-be-baked Serbian Cheese Pie called Gibanica along with the recipe sheet and baking instructions.  We baked it just before the party but still had to turn it out onto a serving plate.  A fly on the wall would’ve enjoyed the hilarity of that panicked moment.  We expected it would be a mess, but the Gibanica came out of the pot clean! 

Mary’s Gibanica was the hit of the party.  Everyone raved about it.  We had put a “Serbian Cheese Pie” label next to it on the table, and only in hindsight did I think we should have given it a gallery-style label to look more like the art piece that it was: 

Jonathan B., 3/24/17