Hot Water Pastry Pies (pork pies, game pies, full English breakfast pies!)

Recently, a very secretive fellow-blogger, the Fry-up Inspector, was drooling over a picture of a full English breakfast in a pie. As he lives close to me I offered to make him one to try, thinking that Hot water crust pastry is just the sort of skill that you all might like to see a 'How-to' on. So, here's how to make a traditional raised pie, and if you want to find out how the one in the picture tasted, you have to check the Fry-up Inspector's blog: fryupsgoodornot.blogspot.co.uk/

When you get the hang of it, hot water crust pastry is, I think, one of the easiest pastries to work with. It's very forgiving, you can roll it, mould it, patch it, and even play with it, because it's feels like warm playdough.

To make any raised pie, you must first prepare your filling. A traditional raised pork pie will require some diced pork from your butcher, mixed with some cooked bacon cut into small pieces, or lardons, and include a couple of slices of bread soaked in milk. This should be seasoned with a little salt, plenty of pepper, and some mixed spice and nutmeg. Quantities will depend on the size of pie tin or mould you are going to use. That's why going to a butcher is a good thing, you can even take your tin with you to make sure you have enough to fill it 3/4 full. 

Of course, raised pies also include game pies, you can make veggie versions with Quorn etc., and various layered pies including gala pies (with the egg in the middle), or in this case, a full English breakfast in a pie!

Mine included Cumberland sausages, a spinach 'Bubble and Squeak,' smoked bacon lardons, and Scottish black pudding. This was going to be layered around a soft boiled egg or two (boil until just firm enough to shell, because it will be cooked again in the pie. Use a teaspoon to slide under the shell and peel it off,) all of this topped with a couple of layers of semi-roasted and seasoned flat mushrooms and vine tomatoes.

The proportion of fat-to-flour in a hot water pastry is the same as a regular short-crust, ie, half the weight of the flour in fat. So if you use 500g of flour you will also need 250g of fat. The flour must be strong white, as you would use for bread. Traditionally you use lard in hot water crust, but you can use hard (baking) margarine, or 80% margarine and 20% butter. Put the fat in a pan with an equal weight of water (1ml of water weighs 1g, so for 250g of fat, add 250ml of water.)

Bring the water to a rolling boil, and leave it boiling until all the fat has melted. If you are cooking lard it really smells your kitchen out! On this occasion I was also making a veggie pie, so I used marge and butter. Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. As soon as the fat is melted pour the liquid into the flour and beat it hard with a wooden spoon or strong spatula until it is all combined and mixed to a smooth dough. Set it aside for a few minutes while you prepare your tin, until it is cool enough to handle, but still warm and malleable.

You will need a deep pie or cake tin, or if possible a loose ring on a flat oven tray. Again, traditionally, raised pies are 'raised' around the outside of a mould, that is then removed and the filling added. However, it is easier to mould inside a tin for beginners. If you are using a loose ring, oil the ring and set it on a piece of baking paper on a tray. You can use a loose bottomed cake or pie tin, or if you are using a solid tin, you will need to line it with baking paper to make removing the pie possible! Reserve 1/3rd of the dough for the lid. You can roll out hot water crust, but I prefer to mould the dough in the tin, like a potter making a vase(...ish), put the dough in the bottom of the tin, then push it out from the middle and up the sides, turning the tin as you go, until it is a fairly even thickness and just goes over the top. Don't worry about smoothness here, this bit's on the inside! You can use a bit of the reserved dough to patch any holes or thin bits at this stage.

I filled mine in layers, starting with the bubble and squeak mixture, finishing with the mushrooms.

Roll the reserved pastry to cover the top, place it over and tuck it in the edges. Trim the surplus and pinch the top and sides together.

Cut a hole in the middle to let the steam out and brush the top with beaten egg. You can make decorations with any left over pastry, but save a little back wrapped in baking paper, it's always worth doing this with any pastry, in case you have to patch any shrinks, cracks or holes later.

Bake in a hot oven (210-230 degC) for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium (170-200 degC) and bake for another 30 minutes for a small (individual) pie, 1- 1 1/4 hours for a medium 1 1/2 - 2 hours for a large pie. If you have a probe or meat thermometer, cook it until it reaches 75 degC in the centre to guarantee it's thoroughly cooked.

In the meantime, why not make a nice mushroom ketchup to go with the pie? Sweat a chopped red onion in a pan with a little oil, then add 250g of  roughly chopped mushrooms, cook for a little longer then add 150ml of cider vinegar and 50g of demerara sugar, salt and pepper.

Simmer until the vinegar has reduced until thick and syrupy, then add 300ml of double cream and heat through until the cream simmers, taste and adjust the seasoning, sugar and vinegar to taste. Take it off the heat and leave to cool before blending with a stick blender or liquidiser. 

When the pie is cooked through, if it's in a loose ring, springform, or easy to remove from the tin, then take it out carefully, patch any cracks, glaze the sides and top with more egg, and return to the oven on high for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Leave the pie to cool before cutting or placing in a fridge, then serve with the mushroom ketchup... and a nice salad?

Hot Crossed Buns, in time for Holy Week

Here's a recipe requested by a friend. I'm giving it to you now so that you have a few days to practice before Good Friday. Then you can invite all your friends and neighbours round for coffee and hot crossed buns. Of course, you won't want to eat any by then as you'll have had all the practice buns!

To make eight good size buns (or 12 small ones) you'll need 500g of strong white flour in a bowl. Add to that a teaspoon of ground mixed spice, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, and the same of ground cinnamon. Add a teaspoon of salt and stir to mix.

Add in two sachets of fast action yeast, and 225g of mixed dried fruit. Stir that all around so that the fruit is well coated with the flour, then add 75g of caster sugar.

Stir the sugar in. Then measure 75ml of cold water into a jug and add 150ml of milk. Cut 75g of unsalted butter in cubes and add to the milk mixture.

Microwave on full power for about a minute until the milk is warm and the butter just melting, bring it out and stir it until the butter has all melted into the milk mixture. Alternatively pop it all in a pan over a low heat and stir until the butter has melted (don't let it boil!) Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour all the liquid in.

Now get you hand in and mix the flour into the liquid, squashing, squishing, stirring and kneading, until all the liquid has been mixed into the flour and there is none left coating the side of the bowl.

You should have a slightly sticky dough, not dry, not too wet. Get the dough out of the bowl and knead for 10-15 minutes on a clean surface, don't flour it, don't add any more flour to the dough. You'll find dried fruit keeps popping out and flying all over the place, just knead them back in (unless they fell on the floor.) Knead until you have a smooth, well mixed, and stretchy dough. I find kneading very relaxing and tend to keep going for ages. When kneading by hand you can't overwork the dough, but it could easily be underworked, so if in doubt, keep kneading for another few minutes.

Wipe the bowl out and lightly oil it, wiping the oil round the bowl with a piece of kitchen towel, then use that towel to oil a piece of cling film. Pop the dough in the bowl and cover with the cling film. Leave to prove for 1 -1 1/2 hours somewhere warm, until doubled in size(ish). There is no exact science to this bit. After a while the dough will just take off, and you will see it almost growing before your eyes. It might not actually double in volume in  1 1/2 hours, but the yeast will have been activated and is growing rapidly. The crucial prove is the next one.

Take the dough out of the bowl, punch it down, and roll it out to make a sausage shape. Divide that up into eight or twelve pieces.

Shape the pieces into nice round bun shapes. You can scale the pieces to make them exactly the same size, or be very exact when you're shaping them, but a bit of unevenness will prove they are genuinely home made! Put some baking paper on a large enough tray to hold the buns and space them out with a couple of centimetres between each. Cover the whole lot loosely with oiled clingfilm, and leave in a warm place while you heat your oven to around 200 degC.

In the meantime you need to make up your paste for piping the crosses. Put about 100g of plain flour in the bowl that the dough came out of (to save washing-up.) Gradually add in about 100ml of cold water, mixing with a whisk or fork all the time, until you reach a smooth stringy consistency, a bit like melted mozzarella on a pizza It will dribble off the whisk in ribbons, not drip or pour off (If it's too runny, add more flour.)

Spoon this into a disposable piping bag, or a reuseable one with a plain (about 5mm) nozzle, or you can quite easily use a strong freezer-type plastic bag. Knot the end or wrap it round with clingfilm. Leave it to one side until your buns are proved.

After about a half hour to forty five minutes, the buns will have grown to the point where they are just touching. At this point, gently uncover them. Cut the tip off your piping bag so you have a 5-10mm nozzle and pipe on the crosses. There should be enough paste to have a practice go or two on the worktop if you like. You may find it easier to do one stroke on each bun going in the same direction, then go back to do the other stroke. (Spares and then strikes, if you're into ten pin bowling.) Again, they don't have to be too exact, they are home made after all. You should try to keep the cross on the top, not go all the way down the sides, because the paste will run down the side a bit anyway.

Now you can pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Depending on how evenly your oven cooks you may want to take them out and turn the tray round after about 15 minutes to get an even colour. Check them after 20 minutes. The outside ones may be done already: They will be nicely coloured all over with still pale crosses on them, tapping the bottom will give a hollow sound. If so, remove the outer ones and return the tray to the oven for another five minutes. 

Put a piece of cling film or baking paper under your cooling rack to catch the drips from the glaze. When all the buns are cooked, space them out nicley on the rack. You might have the odd bit of excess cross paste, or overdone raisin on the outside that you might be best to pick off before you glaze them.

To make your glaze, put two tablespoons of caster sugar in a pan, along with around 100ml of cold water. Heat that until the sugar dissolves. If it just goes grainy and starts heading towards caramel, add a splash more water, you should have a thin clear glaze.

While it is still hot, brush it onto the buns, then go straight back and give them a second coat for an extra shiny gloss. It really brings out the contrast in the crosses, but they'll be proper sticky buns, so have some napkins to hand when you serve them.

The hardest part is waiting the next twenty minutes or so, until the buns are cool enough to cut and butter, but there's nothing like a freshly home made hot crossed bun, with lots of real butter. (On Easter weekend I actually prefer the hot crossed buns to the chocolate eggs!) It might mean getting up extra early on a day off, but well worth the effort.

How to make: A Classic Lemon Tart (tarte aux citron)

Unexpected bad news and funerals have put me off posting for a while, but I'm still busy cooking and I thought I would show you how to make a classic lemon tart. You will need:
200g plain flour
125g unsalted butter
350g caster sugar
3 lemons
7 eggs
200ml double cream
and a fair amount of time, this one will be at least a couple of hours from beginning to end (including resting time.)

Start by making the sweet pastry: Into a bowl with 200g plain flour, grate the zest of one lemon, then add 125g butter cut into small pieces.

Rub the butter into the flour until you have a texture like breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the bowl and add 50g caster sugar and the yolk of one egg (don't throw away the white!).

Using the tips of the fingers of one hand, gradually mix the egg into the sugar, then incorporate the flour. You should get a dry mix that when pressed together will form a ball of dough. If it is a little crumbly still, you may have to add up to a tablespoon of cold water. Knead the mixture a little so that it is smooth and well mixed.

Then wrap the dough in cling film and rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile lightly grease a 20cm loose bottomed flan ring and line the base with baking paper (not greaseproof.)

When the dough is rested you can roll it out. This is best done between two sheets of baking paper, it doesn't stick, and you're not adding in any more flour. when you've rolled the dough out to around the thickness of a tupenny bit (2-3 mm), gently roll it over your pin and lift it (quickly) onto your tin. Lift the edges and bring them in towards the centre, dropping the paste into the flan dish as you work your way round. If your pastry completely breaks up, don't worry, scoop it up and re-roll it. (It may be too wet, in which case knead it to a smooth ball again, and roll it out on a floured board, just to add a little flour back in to the mix.)

Break off a bit of excess dough, make a little ball and dip it in flour. Now use that to press the dough in to the bottom edge of the tin.

Leave the dough draped over the edge of the tin, but tear off a bit of excess dough and wrap in clingfilm to put back in the fridge. This will be handy if you notice any tears, cracks or splits later, you can use this to patch it up. Cut a circle of baking paper a little larger than the tin. Crumple it up to soften it, prick the pastry base with a fork, then line the case with the paper and fill with baking beans.

Put the case on a baking tray and blind bake in an oven at around 170DegC for about 15 minutes. At the end of that time remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for another 3-5 minutes, just to dry out the base a bit.
Leave the case out to cool, then run a sharp knife around the top to trim up any leftover pastry still clinging to the edge. Brush out any crumbs that have fallen into the case. Nibble on the offcuts of pastry, saying: "Ummm, that melts in the mouth...."

Use the reserved bit of uncooked pastry to patch any holes or cracks that might have opened up at this point.

To make the filling, zest two more lemons into a bowl, then add the juice of all three lemons. Empty in the reserved egg white and add 6 more eggs. Add 300g caster sugar and whisk it all together until smooth. Stir in the double cream.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150DegC. Pour the filling into the case as close to the oven as possible, right up to a couple of millimetres from the top. Now carefully pop it in the oven for 30-40 minutes until it is just set.

Check at the end of 30 minutes, if you gently move the tray the filling should just 'wibble,' if it 'wobbles,' or sloshes around, it's not set. Touching the top should feel like the skin on a cool custard, and it may be just colouring around the edge. If it gets too dark, your oven is too hot, or you've left it in too long.

Out it comes, and onto a cooling rack.

A tip here: If after 10 or 15 minutes of cooling, there are cracks appearing in the surface as it shrinks (this may happen more with deeper tins), place a sheet of baking paper over the top, and gently press it down all over with the flat of your hand. You'll find when you lift the paper that the cracks are gone. The lemon tart slices best when completely cool, preferably left overnight in a fridge, so this is a great recipe to prepare a day ahead. When you get the tart out of the fridge, sit it on a bowl or tin that's slightly taller than the flan tin itself. for ease of unmoulding, gently heat the side of the tin with a cooks blowtorch, then press it down leaving the tart sitting on top of the bowl. Leave on the base of the tin to slice, or carefully transfer the whole thing onto a plate.

Dust with icing sugar and serve with pouring cream or ice cream.

Gingerbread 'House' Hints and tips, plus recipe....

If you haven't made a gingerbread house this year, there might still be time if you're at a loose end, or check out these hints for next year!

I saw a multi-tiered gingerbread house in a shop window earlier this year, but the tiers were made using a cardboard box for support. I felt it would be possible to do a multi-storeyed structure entirely of gingerbread, so this this is how I did it (ably helped by daughter No.2!)

First came the design. I wanted to make something based on the Flemish bell towers you see in Belgium and Holland, with octagonal tops, multiple tiers and flying buttresses. I thought their designs would also help with the gingerbread structure's strength. I sketched out a design that combined a couple of towers, then drew and cut out templates for every part. When planning the parts of your construction, don't design any one part larger than your largest oven tray!

I adapted my usual gingerbread recipe to make something harder (note: Harder=more brittle!) This is the recipe I used:

175g strong white flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
75g margarine
75g dark brown sugar
1 tbsp treacle
(I multiplied this by ten times to get enough gingerbread for my tower.)
Mix this all together by hand, adding a little water if it is too dry to come together into a dough. Knead a little to ensure a good mix, then rest in the fridge, wrapped.

Roll out portions of the dough between two sheets of baking paper (not greaseproof paper!) Turn them over occasionally and roll from the back to eliminate creases. When it is thin enough (about 4-5mm) peel off the top sheet and lightly flour the dough so your template won't stick to it. Lay the template(s) on the dough, cut around it with a sharp knife and remove the bits you don't want. You can then lift the paper and dough onto a greased baking tray. Bake at around 180DegC for around 10 minutes until just coloured. Leave the dough on the tray to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Store your finished kit somewhere flat and airtight.

You can bake coloured windows into the design by crushing boiled sweets in a mortar and spooning the crushed sweets into a window opening (just level with the dough). These will melt and form 'stained glass windows.' However, you can also make window frames using the templates that you have already created for the windows, and cook the windows separately to be glued on later. This is worth doing if you have a complicated design that may break or crack in construction and need remaking.

Note here: Things that didn't work... Slot together sections of the design. Great in principle, but needed lots of allowance in slots for expansion/warping of the gingerbread. Also very difficult to slot together large and delicate pieces. I had to do a fair amount of 'reconstruction.'

To stick gingerbread together you will need to make a royal icing for piping:

Separate 3 eggs and beat the whites with a little lemon juice until you get 'soft peaks'. Add icing sugar a spoon full at a time and stir in to mix with a metal spoon, gently at first. Continue adding more icing sugar until you have a stiff piping consistency. In fact make it as stiff as you can manage to pipe (if it's too stiff, let it out again with a little water.) This royal icing will be both glue (using a larger nozzle) and decoration (through a writing nozzle.) You can colour it, or use writing icing too for decoration. Royal icing is quite tacky, but will take a minimum 4 hours to set. Your structure will have to be either self supporting, or have additional temporary support (card, elastic bands, pegs etc,) Or built in sections that can be put together more easily. For an instant grab you could put crushed boiled sweets in a joint and melt them with a few passes of a cook's blowtorch, then quickly put the joint together. This will set in minutes and be stronger than the gingerbread, but be careful of burning the gingerbread.

One more tip: If your gingerbread warps, pop it into a warm oven for a few minutes until it gets soft again, then set it between two baking sheets.

So there it is, with my 'little' helper. Of course you can decorate your structure with all manner of sweets etc. It's completely up to you. And if you were wondering... The tower stood for just over 24 hours before the structure inside supporting the second storey gave way! I should have made it double thickness... Or perhaps used a cardboard box?

Stollen, a Christmas treat....

I love marzipan (some don't) so Christmas is a great time with all the Christmas cakes. This sweet fruited loaf has plenty of marzipan, but it's lighter than rich fruit cake (so I can eat more of it!)

Weigh 500g of strong white flour into a bowl and add 225g of dried mixed fruit. Here's a tip: Aldi luxury dried mixed fruit includes cherries and cranberries so it's great for Christmas recipes (maybe not for regular fruit buns.) It's £1.49 for 500g so good value too. No I'm not sponsored!

Add a teaspoon of mixed spice, as well as half a teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 75g of caster sugar.

 Mix those ingredients together so that all the fruit is coated with flour (always do this with any cake recipe, it stops the fruit from sinking.) Then add the contents of two sachets of instant yeast and stir that all in.

In a jug measure 75ml of water and 150ml of milk, then cut 75g of butter in small chunks into the liquid. Pop the jug into the microwave for about a minute, then stir it up so that the butter is just melting, but the liquid is not boiling.

Make a well in the dry mixture and pour in the liquid.

Stir the liquid into the flour mixture, then start mixing it with your hand until it all comes together, coming away from the sides of the bowl.

When it starts forming a dough, take it out and knead it for around 10 minutes. Then replace it in the wiped, oiled bowl, and cover with oiled clingfilm.

Leave in a warm place to prove for an hour or so. As the dough is heavily fruited, enriched and sweetened the yeast has to work harder to raise the dough and may take longer than a bread dough to double in size.

When it has proved it's time to add the marzipan. Roll the dough out to a rough oblong about 1cm thick. Roll, slice or 'squidge' about 250g of marzipan into an oblong that will cover around 2/3rds of the dough. Leave a gap at the edges. If you like marzipan, you can add more. If heaven forbid, you don't like marzipan, then why not leave it out? You could add a fruit conserve or maybe mincemeat in its place.

Fold the empty third of the dough half way across the marzipan, then roll it over again, so you have a long seam underneath.

Press the ends to seal them well, then place the stollen on a baking tray with baking paper and re-cover with the oiled clingfilm and leave to prove for another 1/2 hour while you heat the oven to around 220degC.

You'll need a good 40 minutes or so to cook the stollen through. It will get quite dark on the outside but can still be raw in the middle, if it's getting too dark turn the oven down about halfway through. Mine was rising nicely, but then sprang a leak and lost a lot of marzipan from the middle! To test if it's done roll the loaf over and press the bottom in the middle, it should spring back slightly.

Remove any burned fruit clinging onto the outside and any leaked marzipan, then allow to cool thoroughly before cutting it or else the marzipan will all run out! Finish it with a good dusting of icing sugar and enjoy with some mulled wine. Happy Christmas!