pork pie

Pork pies are typically a handheld snack but i wanted to make a dinner sized one. By using hot water pastry it creats solid walls that doesn’t require blind baking but still gets crispy :)

hot water pastry

500g flour

190g butter

200ml water

pinch of salt

pork filling

500g ground pork

1 tbsp of oil

1 leek

5-6 sage leaves, chopped

1-2 tsp dried or fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg - for egg wash

method

Place the butter, water, and salt in a medium-sized saucepan on medium-high heat. Cook until all the butter has melted.

While waiting for the butter to melt, place the flour in a large bowl. set aside.

Pour the hot butter mixture into the flour, using a wooden spoon, stir everything together until a shaggy dough forms.

Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead the dough using your hands for about 1 minute. The dough should be a little floppy but fully hold its form. Shape the dough into a rough rectangle, wrap in clingfilm, then place in the fridge for 1 hour.

While the dough is chilling… trim the top and tail from the leek. You should be taking off the majority of the green part of the leek. Run your knife down the middle of the leek vertically, splitting it in half. Remove some of the dirty outer layers and discard, then rinse the leek under water to remove and excess dirt, but try to keep the leek intact. Slice the leek to create little half moons.

Place a frypan on medium heat, add roughly a tbsp of oil. Once the pan is hot, add the leek and cook down until you start to achieve some colour, add a healthy splash of water to the pan and continue to cook until the water evaporates. Season with a pinch of salt. Once the leeks are soft and have a strong colour, take them out of the pan and set aside to cool.

Mix all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Cut off 1/3 of the dough (this will be for the top). Lightly flour a clean work surface, roll out the larger piece of dough so that it’s large enough to cover the sides and bottom of your tin. Gently press the dough into the tin, making sure there are no holes or air pockets. Place all of the pork filling on top, pushing it into all of the corners and smoothing out the top.

Roll out the rest of the pastry into a larger square than your baking tin, then cut into one-inch strips (for the braid, cut one strip into three pieces, then braid them together as best you can).

For the lattice… place half of the strips vertically, leaving a gap between each strip, lift alternating strips and place one strip horizontally, then lift the opposite strips and place another horizontally, repeat until a lattice forms

Cut off any excess dough and crimp the edges whatever way you like, that could just be with a fork or made with your fingers. brush the top with egg wash and bake for 30-45 minutes until the top is golden brown and the filling is cooked through :)