Week 12 - Pies: Stilton, Potato and Caramelised Onion Pie

This week's blog has been somewhat delayed due to my 10 month old son and myself being unwell. The recipe for the Stilton, Potato and Caramelised Onion Pie looks quite complicated to make so fingers crossed that my pie will not turn out a complete disaster!!!

The pastry and filling

I sifted 200g of plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl I mixed together 75g of butter with 75g of lard, using a fork until both fats were soft and blended together. I then spread out the fat along the bottom of the bowl and marked it into quarters using a knife.

The fat mixture marked into quarters

I cut one-quarter of the fat into small pieces and rubbed it into the flour using my fingertips. I added 1 1/2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar and 150ml of icy water to the flour and mixed all of the ingredients together using a table knife until a soft dough was formed.

The soft dough ball

I wrapped the dough ball in clingflim and put it into the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes of chilling time, I put the dough on my floured kitchen work surface and pressed the pastry into a rectangle shape using my hands. The recipe then said to roll out the dough into a rectangle measuring 30 x 11cm, with a thickness of about 1cm.

The pastry rectangle

Using a table knife I dotted another quarter of the butter/lard mixture over the dough rectangle. I had to make sure that I left one short edge of the rectangle 3cms free of fat mixture.

The fat mixture dotted onto the pastry

I then folded the pastry into thirds like a business letter, wrapped it in clingfilm and chilled it for another 15 minutes.

The pastry folded like a business letter

While the pastry was chilling, I fried a chopped onion with 15g butter, salt and 1 tablespoon of caster sugar. The recipe said to fry the onions for about 15 minutes at a low heat so that they would caramelise.

The caramelised onions

After 15 minutes I took the dough out of the fridge and rolled it out to a rectangle shape with a 1cm thickness. I dotted another quarter of the butter/lard mixture on the dough and folded it up into thirds as before. I re-wrapped the dough in clingfilm and chilled for another 15 minutes.

Next I peeled and thinly sliced about 450g of potatoes and cooked them in boiling water for about 10 minutes until soft. I drained the water out of the pot and set the potatoes aside to cool.

I took the dough out of the fridge and repeated the steps of rolling out the dough into a rectangle shape, dotting it with a quarter of the fat and then finally folding the rectangle into three. This time I had to chill the dough for 30 minutes.

I crumbled 75g of Stilton into a bowl and mixed it with 75g of grated Gruyère cheese. In another bowl I grated 75g of mature Cheddar and mixed in 70ml of crème fraiche and 30ml of double cream. I love cheese but looking at the amount of cheese in each bowl does make me wonder if this pie is going to give me serious indigestion!!!!!

The next stage in the recipe was to layer all of the filling ingredients on top of each other in the pie dish. I started with a layer of potato on the bottom of the dish, then a layer of Stilton/Gruyere, a layer of double cream/Cheddar and finally some caramelised onions. Then I did another layer of potato followed by the rest of the cheese mixtures and the last bits of the onion. I finished off the pie filling with a final layer of potato on the top. I suddenly realised after all of my layering that I was meant to have seasoned each layer with nutmeg and pepper. However it was too late now so I just had to season the top of the filling with nutmeg and pepper and hope that it would still taste ok!!

The pie filling layers

For the pastry lid I first had to cut off 4 thin strips from the pastry rectangle. I rolled out the rest of the pastry until it was slightly larger than the shape of the pie dish. I brushed the rim of the pie with some beaten egg and stuck the 4 strips of pastry onto the rim.

The strips of pastry stuck onto the rim

I lifted up the rolled out pastry and laid it over the pie dish. To seal the pastry I pressed down the edges of the lid to the strips on the rim. I cut of the excess pastry around the sides making sure that there was a bit of an overhang over the rim of the dish. I brushed the pastry lid with more beaten egg and cut a cross into the middle so that the steam will be able escape while the pie is being cooked.

Ready for the oven

I placed my pie dish onto a baking tray and put it into the oven preheated to Gas Mark 7. I cooked the pie for about 35 minutes and then turned the oven down to Gas Mark 4 and continued cooking for a further 25 minutes until the pastry became a lovely golden crisp colour.

The baked pie

The verdict

I was pleased with how my finished Stilton, potato and caramelised pie turned out. The puff pastry lid was cooked to perfection as it was really crisp and flaky. The pie filling was tasty and thankfully the slight lack of nutmeg and pepper was not noticeably. However, even though the pie was very tasty I won't be making it again. My husband and I have decided to rename it "The Heart Attack Pie" due to the volume of cheese, fat and cream in the recipe as we both had severe tummy ache for the rest of the evening after eating the pie.

Next Week's Recipe:

Blueberry Bakewell Tarts

Delay to the Stilton, Potato and Caramelised blog

This weeks blog has been delayed due to me being ill this week. The write up on the Stilton, Potato and Caramelised Onion Pie should be out by the end of this week.

Week 11 - Bread: Cheese and Onion Tear and Share Loaf

Home made bread is one of my favorite foods as it tastes so much better then shop bought bread. I am hoping that my attempt at the Cheese and Onion Tear and Share Loaf will go as successfully as my previous bread recipe. As its just my husband and I who will be eating the bread, I will be making rolls instead of an entire loaf as then I can put what we don't eat into the freezer.

The mixture

I sifted 450g of strong bread flour into a bowl and mixed in the salt, sugar and yeast. I made a well in the centre of the flour and poured in 300ml of lukewarm water and 1 tablespoon of oil. I mixed all of the ingredients together, adding a little more water as the mixture was a little dry, until a soft dough had been formed. I covered the bowl with clingfilm and left it to rest for 10 minutes.

The soft dough

I placed the dough onto my floured kitchen work surface and kneaded the dough for 5 minutes. I used stretching and gathering-back movements to knead the dough which I learnt to do from the previous bread recipe in the "How to Bake" book. I placed the kneaded dough into a large oiled bowl and covered it with oiled clingfilm. I then placed the dough in my airing cupboard and left it to rise for an hour.

The dough ball covered with oiled clingfilm

Once the dough had risen to double its size, I punched it down and kneaded the dough for a few minutes until it became smooth.

The risen dough

As I was making rolls and not a 'tear and share' loaf, I split my dough into 7 pieces instead of 19 like the recipe instructed. I flattened out each of the 7 dough pieces so that they looked like mini pizza bases.

The flattened dough pieces

I then fried the thinly sliced onion until soft and grated 120g of cheddar into a bowl. I put the onion and some of the grated cheese into the middle of each flattened piece and folded up the dough around the filling.

The onion and cheese filling

I pinched the top of each dough ball so as to create a seal over the filling. I lined a baking tray with baking paper and arranged the dough balls seam-side down on the tray making sure that there was enough space between each roll.

The filled dough balls

The recipe said to cover the dough with a large upturned roasting tin. However I had to cover my dough with clingfilm as I don't own a large roasting tin. I put the baking tray into the airing cupboard and left the rolls to rise for 40 minutes. 10 minutes before I took the dough out of the airing cupboard, I preheated the oven to Gas Mark 5.

The risen rolls

I sprinkled some more of the grated cheese over the rolls and baked them in the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.

Ready for the oven

The baked rolls

I rotated the baking tray after 15 minutes of baking so as to make sure that the rolls were evenly browned.

The verdict

My rolls had a good light, spongy texture and the cheese and onion filling made the bread extremely tasty!! After eating one of the cheese and onion rolls my husband declared that "it was amazing in the most stunning way".

Next Week's Baking Challenge:

Stilton, Potato and Caramelised Onion Pie