I’ve re-discovered an old recipe for Pâte Brisée which works brilliantly with savoury pies.
It’s adapted from the Silver Palate Good Times cookbook and comes together in a flash in the food processor. Halve the quantities if necessary, or if you only need enough pastry to cover a single pot pie.
- 300g (2 cups) plain (AP) flour
- 150g (1 cup) bread/bakers flour (or more plain flour)
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 250g (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 125ml (½ cup) ice water
1. In the bowl of a large food processor, pulse together the flours, salt and butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. With the machine running, add the cold water gradually until the mixture comes together in a ball. You might not need to add all the water.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently shape into a flat disc. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least half an hour before rolling out. The dough can also be frozen for use at a later time.
As I’m not particularly adept with a rolling pin, I prefer to roll my dough out between two sheets of parchment paper.
This batch made enough pastry to cover the tops of both the large beef and mushroom pie above and the medium vegetarian one below, with a small portion left over. Both pies were given a generous egg wash and then baked in a 200C (with fan) oven for half an hour.
There are times when only a pie will satisfy (as the old Big Ben jingle used to claim), and it’s comforting to have a reliable pastry dough for just such an occasion!
PS. I spent ages looking for these rectangular metal pie tins, and finally tracked them down at the Odgers & McClelland Exchange Stores. They’re made by Falcon Enamelware and are quite lightweight – I think they’re originally designed for camping. The larger one is 32cm, and results in a large enough pie for the four of us (remember that I’m feeding two starving wolves). The smaller 28cm one makes a dinner for two with leftovers.
This is the one I make too. And I have taught this process to all the kids, it is such a winner! Yesterday i made some with half regular flour, half buckwheat and it is so crunchy. I love it! Thank you Celia.. You have set it out so beautifully I can refer people to this page now! c
Celi, half buckwheat is a good idea! I haven’t tried other flours. I used to make this with all plain (AP) flour, but I find the bread flour gives it a little more strength and elasticity. :)
thanks Celia- I have a couple of recipes I use- but this one is quick and doesn’t use the amount of butter mine do.
I appreciate your generous sharing of recipes, my friend!
Heidi, I’m sure you must have lots of pie crust recipes! The original of this was written for half the quantities, but I find it freezes quite well, so I’ll always make a larger batch, and freeze any leftovers.
What interesting flavour combinations—I love the blackbird by the way—I’ve just borrowed my Mum’s, and after using it to create a rather good pie, have no intention of returning it!
Thanks for stopping by, Rach! :) The blackbird is a new find for me. My meat pie was a little too soupy, hence the overflow, so the blackbird didn’t quite do what it was supposed to. It looked so cute though! :)
Beautiful pastry! And those pies… so tempting. Theirs is one of my very favorite (and first) cookbooks ever, I haven’t tried this recipe yet. As you know, not all pastry recipes are successful for me.. I can’t wait to try this one:)
Smidge, the SP cookbooks were probably my first “real” cookbooks, and I loved just reading them. I’ve made a few recipes from them over the years. They were the first I’d ever bought without photos!
I make all my pastry in the food processor now, it makes it so much easier…
I rarely make pies, which is a shame… I see the winter about to say goodbye, so this type of recipe MUST be made sooner rather than later…
Phil is usually the guy working the rolling pin, but I intend to give it a try with the parchment paper trick – sounds just like what I need!
great post, Celia!
Sally, I’m a bit rubbish with rolling out any sort of dough evenly – I always end up with thinner edges. The parchment paper though prevents the sticking problem! :)
Celia, I hate making pastry so only do it when driven. But for some reason have never thought of doing it in a food processor – probably because I hate washing up the food processor!!! Yours looks lovely of course.
Choc, it’s one of those things, isn’t it? To make pastry well, it helps to have a food processor..AND a dishwasher.. ;-)
That is beautiful!
Thank you! It’s really quite fun to make.. :)
Oh wow. It looks great. I’ve never ever heard of this – so thanks so much for sharing it. One of the things I love most about blogging is discovering new recipes and types of food :D
Nick, I thought of you – I’d just made this when I read your beef stroganoff recipe! :)
Oh, I love your old fashioned pie tin!!! I left about three of those behind when I left my husband years ago… downsized and thought I could easily replace things. Doh! Thanks for sharing another wonderful recipe, Celia.
Lizzy, here you go! :) I mail ordered my pie tins here…
http://www.exchangestores.com.au/nundle/online/Results.asp?category=34&secondary=26
I’ll edit my post to include the link, thanks!
That pastry is so golden and delicious looking. Who doesn’t love a pie! And a homemade one is the ultimate. What a great family meal.
Charlie, thank you! My sons maintain any food is improved with the addition of a pastry top.. ;-)
Thanks for sharing this one, Celia. I’m not the worlds best pastry maker so love a tried and true recipe. Actually I think my problem frequently is over-processing resulting in shrinkage. I have a Thermomix and it is very powerful – I must learn to back off a bit! (Although I’ve had it for years – you’d think I would have learned by now!)
Amanda, I still get some pastry shrinkage – haven’t quite got that figured yet – but with these pie tops, I lay over a much larger piece of dough and then rolls the edges in to seal. There’s plenty of coverage then! :)
love love pastry (too much)..love love your pies..love love enamel tins..
Jane, the tins would go well with your enamel mug collection! :)
http://teawithhazel.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/enamel.html
Oh Celia, you do insist on taking me out of my comfort zones.
Thank goodness. :)
Rose, that’s a nice thing to say, thank you.. :)
Ooh Celia this looks delicious. I have put a food processor on my wedding list and I am so so so hoping that someone buys it for me. Then my kitchen will be complete. I know I can make this sort of thing without one but it will make it so much easier!
Claire, I hope you put a big one on your list – little ones are great, but not so good for making pastry and doughs! :) Fingers crossed that you get one!
Those pies look so golden and ‘come hither’. I’ve also just really enjoyed wandering down the shafts of light in the aisles of Odgers and McClelland – what a lovely find.
Jan, isn’t it a great website? Glad you liked it as much as I did! :)
Pie crust makes every dish better. :-)
I made crispy tofu slices with thai peanut sauce tonight. So good.
Maz
Sounds delicious! We love tofu!
I do love a good pie crust. And that enamel ware is gorgeous! :D
I’m not usually an enamelware fan, but these pie tins were just perfect! :)
looks amazing! only one blackbird?? I don’t have a pie vent but after seeing yours I may be doing some shopping :)
Tandy, that’s what Small Man said..only one blackbird? :) This is the one I bought:
http://www.petersofkensington.com.au/Public/Tala-Retro-Pie-Bird.aspx
It looks so yummy with the gravy oozing over the edge like that Celia, Yumm!
Becca, I made the filling to wet, and it oozed everywhere. Thankfully didn’t make the pastry too soggy! :)
Hi Celia,
I thought of you yesterday when Ilooked at the rolling pins at chefs’ warehouse.
I now have the most splendid copper preserving pan as well as a lovely funnel; so excited!
Elaine, I’m so happy to hear that! The copper pans are so beautiful, but beyond my price range at the moment…
Their price was $90.00 less than the company online price! so without a moments hesitation I said yes please.
My Mum used to use an up-side-down egg cup in her pies, I haven’t made a pie for ages, what a good idea!
Sue, the egg cup is an interesting idea – was that just to hold the pastry up?
That looks really perfect! It’s really a precious recipe worth saving :)
Thanks Tes! We love it, and it really is easy to make..
Your pie making is as splendid as ever! We made some pastry yesterday in the food processor attachment, using quark and soft english wheat and it seemed to come out ok, flour still flew everywhere though.Brian will eat anything with pastry too, I am going to send him over to you for supper from now on as you are much better at it than me :) xx
I’ve finally figured out that if I top a savoury pie with pastry and tuck in the edges, like a blanket, rather than try to seal them to the edge of the dish, I don’t end up with obvious shrinkage. Makes for easier washing up too! Yes, send Brian over, there’s always plenty of pie! :)
And let’s not forget a glass of Guinness…
There was half a can of Guinness in the meat pie, actually.. :)
You have such a lovely blog! Just stumbled upon it, happy to have found it. Your recipes look delicious! Excited to see more. :)
Annie, thanks for stopping by! :)
You are right, sometimes pie is the only cure
Meg, it really is, isn’t it? Sometimes, dinner HAS to be a pie.. ;-)
Don’t often see pie funnels used these days. I like cooks who let the steam escape to prevent soggy/saggy pastry.
Peter, I couldn’t resist the pie funnel, it was just too cute..
I looked on the Odgers and McClelland site and fell in love with the galah pie funnels; I already have an elderly blackbird one (can you ever have too many pie funnels)?
I love my new pie funnel, it’s the first one I’ve bought. It’s from Peters of Kensington..
Hi Celia, Love your blog. How busy you are!
Many thanks for mentioning our store and pie dishes. The pie dishes have a strong following. We use them most nights for roasting vegetables and of course baking pies.
Thanks for stocking them! I had a hard time finding them. You have a great shop.. :)
What a great find in the website of Odgers and McClelland. How great it is that such a business exists!
Christine, it’s pretty cool, isn’t it? :)
Hi Celia I forgot to mention our store is in Australian Country Style’s March issue. Thought you might like to relive your visit to Nundle, without leaving home. Or plan your next visit! Megan
Congratulations! I’ll look out for it.. :)