Baking expert Edd Kimber says… ‘I have a soft spot for American hand pies – they’re like a fancy version of Pop-Tarts. You can fill them with whatever you want. For my version I wanted to do something you could take on a journey or throw in a lunch box, so they’re filled with a simple fennel, sausage, tomato and mozzarella mixture.’
Ingredients
- flaky pie dough 1 quantity, link to recipe below
- plain flour for dusting
- egg 1, beaten
- fennel seeds for sprinkling
FILLING
- olive oil 1 tbsp
- onion 1 small, diced
- garlic 1 clove, finely chopped
- fennel seeds 1 tbsp
- pork sausages 4, skinned
- passata 200ml
- grated mozzarella 150g, (see cook's notes)
Method
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Step 1
Make the pastry following the flaky pie dough recipe here.
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Step 2
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion with the garlic and fennel seeds for 5-10 minutes, until translucent. Crumble the sausages into the pan, break up with a wooden spoon and fry the meat until it starts to brown. Pour in the passata and simmer for 5-10 minutes until slightly reduced. Cool to room temperature.
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Step 3
On a lightly floured worksurface, roll the first disc of pastry into a large rectangle about 30cm x 50cm. Cut the dough in two, vertically, to make 2 long rectangles and cut each horizontally into 3 small rectangles. Put these pieces of dough onto the baking tray lined with baking paper. Divide the filling between the pieces of dough, leaving a border of 1cm around the edges and top with the mozzarella. Roll out the second disc, as before. Brush the edge of each hand pie with a little water and place a second piece of dough onto the filling, gently pressing the edges together with a fork to seal. Chill for 30 minutes until firm.
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Step 4
Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Remove the pies from the fridge, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with a few fennel seeds. Using a sharp paring knife, press a couple of holes into each pie. Put the pies into the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before serving. These are wonderful still slightly warm, but I prefer them at room temperature.
This is one of the occasions where the ready-grated dry bagged mozzarella is preferable as it has much less moisture than fresh mozzarella and the pies stay crisp.
Edd Kimber’s ultimate flaky pie dough recipe...
Nutritional Information
- Kcals 754
- Fat 51.9g
- Saturates 29.2g
- Carbs 51.1g
- Sugars 10.2g
- Fibre 3.6g
- Protein 15.9g
- Salt 1.6g