Medieval hand pies with three types of filling. Each pie can be cut into four pieces and shared. I have included three ideas for filling but you can vary it to your heart's desire. They are the perfect lunch food for a busy event and can be made well beforehand. They are quite sturdy and keep well. They taste best reheated either in the oven or over the campfire, but they can be eaten cold.
Course
Main Dish, Pie & postej
Cuisine
Danish, Historical cooking, Medieval
Prep Time40minutes
Cook Time35minutes
Total Time1hour15minutes
Servings5pies
Ingredients
The crust
1kilogramwheat flour
500mililiterswater
500gramsbutteror lard if you can get it
Chicken filling
0,5fennelsliced
2chicken breastswithout skin
3pepper corns
1spring onion
Pork filling
300gramsporkdiced
1tablespoonbutterfor frying
1handfulprunsdiced
1applediced
Apple filling
1appleper remaining pie
0,5teaspoon powder douceSee the notes
raisinsOptional
Instructions
The crust
Add water and butter to a pot and boil it until the butter is melted.
Add the water to a bowl and add the flour in a bit at a time until you have a nice soft dough. Knead it for a minut or so until it has a nice consistency.
Let it rest for at least an hour. A bit of the butter might separate while it is resting, just add a bit more flour and knead it back in.
Chicken filling
Pouch the chicken, by adding the chicken breast to a pot, add in the whole spring onion and a couple of peppercorns. Cover with water and turn the heat to medium. Boil it until the internal temp of the chicken reaches about 72 C - that toke me about 15 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the water and let it cool. Remove the pepper seeds.
After it is cool you dices the fennel and chop the spring onion into smaller pieces.
Pork filling
Fry the pork in the butter until it is cooked tough.
Add diced apple and prunes and mix it together.
Apple filling
Dice the apple and mix it with the spices. You can add raisins if you want.
Assembling the pies
Once the filling is ready and the dough rested you assemble the pies. I use a small wooden bowl to shape the pies. Roll out a piece of dough the size of the bowl. Use the bowl as a stensil to cut out the lid and set it aside.
Roll out a piece of the dough so it is large enough to cover the bowl and line it with the dough.
Add filling, cut the edges clean and add the lid. Then push the lid and sides together and cut a hole in the lid.
Then turn out the pie and set it on the baking trey
Bake it for 35-40 minutes at 200 C