Week 4 - Pies: Beef and Red Wine Pie with Shortcrust Pastry

There are two parts to making this weeks challenge of the beef and red wine pie. The first is to create a good shortcrust pastry that is crisp and has a base that is not soggy. The second is to make a filling  that is tasty and neither too dry or wet. This is my first attempt at a savoury pie so fingers crossed that it will be a success!!

The Pie Filling

I made the pie filling the night before I wanted to bake my pie so that the flavours had time to mature. The recipe is for 6 people but there is no way my husband and I will get through a pie that big so I split the recipe down to suit 2 people. I first browned 250g of stewing steak that had been coated in flour. Then after removing the beef I added the onion and garlic to the pot to cook for 12 minutes. The red wine had to be reduced down so I gently simmered it in another pot. Once the onions and garlic were cooked I added the beef stock, red wine, beef, thyme, salt and pepper. The recipe then said to simmer the mixture gently for an hour.

When I went to add the chopped mushrooms I noticed that my pie mixture had stuck to the bottom of the pot. This meant that I had not turned down the gas low enough and it had cooked too quickly. Hoping that I had not ruined the taste of my pie filling I added some water to loosen the contents from the bottom of the pot. This seemed to work and I left it to simmer uncovered for another 40 minutes.
Once my pie filling had finished cooking I added some more thyme, salt and pepper to give it more flavour as it tasted rather bland.
The cooked mixture did not look particularly appetizing and I had my doubts as to whether I was going to pass the part of this weeks challenge in which I have to make a pie filling that is tasty!! I will only know when I eat the cooked pie tomorrow.

The cooked pie filling

The Shortcrust Pastry

I made my pastry Thursday morning during my son's nap time so that it would be ready for when I came to make the pie later on for dinner. The great thing with shortcrust pastry is that once its been made and wrapped in clingfilm, it will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge.
When I have made shortcrust pastry before it has never quite worked and I always ended up with pastry dough that would crack and break into pieces when rolled out. The "How to Bake" book instructs me to do two vital steps which will ensure that I make good pastry. These are:

1. Use icy cold water. The key to a successful pastry is keeping the temperature as cold as possible as then the fat won't begin to melt while you are making the dough. 
2.  Rest the pastry before rolling it out. The gluten in the flour needs time to react with the water in the pastry to make the dough more elastic in texture.   

I rubbed the cubed butter, salt and flour between my fingertips until the mixture looked like breadcrumbs. 

Breadcrumb mixture

Then I added the icy cold water 2 tablespoons at a time to the mixture to bind it together. I only needed to use 4 tablespoons of water to make the dough. The recipe says to rest the dough wrapped in clingfilm for 15-20 minutes in the fridge. However I was going to make my pie several hours later so I left my dough in the fridge until it was needed. It is important if the dough gets left in the fridge for several hours or a couple of days that it is returned to room temperature before trying to roll it out as it become as solid as a lump of concrete. I got my dough out of the fridge 30 minutes before I wanted to use it but this was not long enough so I enlisted the help of my microwave to return to dough to room temperature. I found 20 seconds at full power in the microwave made the dough pliable enough to roll out. 

The dough ready to be rolled out

As I had followed the two important steps of  using icy water and leaving the dough to rest, I had no problems like my pastry cracking or breaking when I rolled it out. I was able to lift the pastry in one big piece onto my pie dish. Success so far! 

The pastry base

Once I had put the cold pie filling into the dish, I then covered it with the pastry lid.

The cold pie filling

I was a bit worried that I had not left enough pastry to make the lid but I rolled it out quite thinly and it just managed to cover the top of the pie dish. To ensure that my pastry base would not become soggy I made a 2cm slit in the middle of the lid to allow the steam to escape.

The glazed pie ready for the oven

The recipe said to cook the pie for about 35 minutes at Gas Mark 5. I wanted to slowly cook my pie whilst I was teaching a piano lesson so I left it in the oven for an hour at Gas Mark 3.  To brown off the pastry I turned up the oven to Gas Mark 6 for 10 minutes until it looked a lovely golden brown colour.

My baked pie

The Verdict

I am very proud to say that I have passed this weeks challenge with flying colours. For the first time my pastry base was not soggy but completely cooked through and the crust was beautifully crisp. The beef and red wine filling was very tasty so I needed not to have worried about it not having much flavour.
I served my pie with mash, green vegetables and gravy. I asked my husband how many marks out of 10 he would give it and he said 11 1/2 so I think this meant he liked it!!!!!!!

Next Week's Baking Challenge:

Tarte Au Citron