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Date: January 11, 2025
Inspired by the real BBC radio program with the same name, The Kitchen Front follows four women, each with a different connection to food.
It was such fun to reconnect through our love and reading and baking! We laughed, pondered, and shared food stories. Learn more about our baking time below!
Our Bake
The Kitchen Front was full of recipes so it was easy to find inspiration within the pages. Savory pies seem to be a staple of British cuisine and we have a few examples from our contestants, for example: Homity Pie, Lord Woolton Pie, Raised Spam & Game Pie, and Whale & Mushroom Pie. We tried making our own version!
Hot water pastry
No soggy bottoms here! It turns out that using a hot water pastry is common for savory, hearty pies
I decided to go with a recipe from King Arthur Flour Company because, simply put, I trust them. I assume there are oodles of hot water pastry recipes out on the inter-webs but once I saw the King Arthur version, I decided to commit because, as you'll see when you visit the recipe link, there are minimal ingredients and steps in the recipe. That's a win! The filling of our pie was made ahead of time and I promise you that I did nothing out of the ordinary. I chopped the vegetables I had on hand the same size. I tossed them with salt, pepper, and olive oil and then roasted them at 375 degrees until tender. I pureed about 1/3 of the roasted vegetables, combined them in a bowl, and tossed it in the fridge for later use.
When we were ready to make our pies during Book & Bake, I simply boiled the water and fat, added it to the flour and salt, and stirred to make a shaggy dough that I could then dump onto the counter to knead into a warm, comforting mass. I was sure to heed the advice I'd read about using the dough while warm since once it cools it could be a bit more challenging to manipulate. Most of us had a lovely time creating the little pies; but, you do not have to make mini pies! You can make it into one large pie/loaf, too. Scroll to see my attempt at the step by step (more or less) process.
Savory mini pies with a hot water pastry
Do Ahead Roast of Vegetables
Do Ahead Roast of Vegetables 2
Do Ahead Roast of Vegetables 2
Roast carrots and mushrooms at 375 until tender and slightly caramelized. Not a fan of mushrooms or carrots? Omit them! Use what you have and what you enjoy. I cut them in a smaller dice so they would cook evenly.
Do Ahead Roast of Vegetables 2
Do Ahead Roast of Vegetables 2
Do Ahead Roast of Vegetables 2
I'm a firm believer that any form of potato can solve nearly anything. I treated the potato the same way I treated the carrots and mushrooms, I just roasted them separately because I didn't want steamed vegetables, I wanted roasted!
Filling Done - Use When Ready
Do Ahead Roast of Vegetables 2
Filling Done - Use When Ready
You may be thinking, what on earth is that?!? Relax. It is simply the combined roasted mushrooms, carrots, and potato. I removed 1/3 of the vegetables and pureed it and added it right back into the bowl. That's it my friends. I actually did this the day before while listening to an audiobook!
Make the Pastry
Make the Pastry
Filling Done - Use When Ready
Mix the hot water pastry. Here is what we did, friends: add 1 cup of water and 8 TBS of fat to a sauce pan and bring it to a boil.
Combine four cups of flour and 1 tsp of salt, make a well, and pour in the boiling liquid. Stir with a spatula until a shaggy dough forms; knead on the counter until it comes together. It will feel very tender and comforting!
Assemble Pies
Make the Pastry
Assemble Pies
Once the dough was soft and supple (I love that word -supple!) we quickly divided it into small balls so it could be pressed into muffin tins. The dough was quite easy to manipulate and once we had it pressed into the tins, we filled with a dollop of the vegetable mixture and used what we had left to make little lids. Were they cute? Nah, not really. We didn't care!
Eat
Make the Pastry
Assemble Pies
There they are -post bake. They are not the most attractive morsels but they were mighty tasty. The crust held firm, no soggy bottoms here. By the time we got to taste them they were pretty much room temperature but that did not bother us - we really enjoyed the taste and a few folks are planning to try it out at home with their families and I LOVE that!