We make this differently every time so the filling is just a list of ideas to remind me of my options. For us, the bulk of the filling is potatoes and/or cauliflower and then we go from there and its ALWAYS GOOD. (And the leftovers are even better).
Dough Ingredients:
11.5 oz All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 Heaping Tbsp Za’atar (or whatever you want your crust to be flavored with)
4.5 fl. oz Boiling Water
5T Butter
(1 Egg for glazing)
Filling Ingredient Options: (estimate a combo of the following to fill a pie)
Egg
Potato (& or sweet potato) cut small
Carrots, minced
1 small Onion, minced
Cauliflower, cut bite size
Garlic
Peas
Cheese (cheddar or gouda, feta, etc)
Ground meat (lamb or beef, sausage, Bacon etc)
Seasoning (Tandori or curry, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, cilantro etc)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 355F (on convection) or 400F. Brown the meat or cook the bacon in a skillet on the stove.
2. In a separate skillet, saute the onions, potato and carrot in Olive Oil with spices. Cook until soft and onions are translucent.
3. Add in the ground meat, if using, cover and steam till everything is soft. (if you need to thicken the filling, add cornstarch).
4. Add frozen peas and crumbled bacon (& sometimes a beaten egg) to filling and let cool.
Good job, You made the filling. Next up, crust!
5. For the dough, mix the flour, salt, spices in a bowl.
6. In microwave, melt the butter into the water.
7. Pour that water/butter into the dry ingredients and knead until you have a thick dough ball
8. Set aside 1/3 of the crust for the top of the pie and roll out the rest on a lightly dusted surface
9. Fit the crust into a cake tin (we use one with with removable sides) leaving some to hang outside the pan
Now put it all together…
10. Fill that pastry shell with the filling.
11. Put the top on and crimp edges together to seal. Pierce a hole in the center so steam can escape.
12.Brush with beaten egg if you want that nice golden color.
13. Bake for 1 hour and let cool a bit before you cut into it.
the pear and plum 