Hot water crust pastry

Hot water crust pastry

Melton Mowbray pork pie made with hot water crust pastry
Type Pastry
Place of origin England
Main ingredients Hot water, lard, flour
Cookbook: Hot water crust pastry  Media: Hot water crust pastry

Hot water crust is a type of pastry used for savoury pies, such as pork pies, game pies and, more rarely, steak and kidney pies. Hot water crust is traditionally used for making hand-raised pies.

As the name suggests, the pastry is made by heating water, melting the fat in this, bringing to a boil, and finally mixing with the flour. This can be done by beating the flour into the mixture in the pan, or by kneading on a pastry board. Either way, the result is a hot and rather sticky paste that can be used for hand-raising: shaping by hand, sometimes using a dish or bowl as an inner mould. As the crust cools, its shape is largely retained, and it is filled and covered with a crust, ready for baking. Hand-raised hot water crust pastry does not produce a neat and uniform finish, as there will be sagging during the cooking of the filled pie. This is generally accepted as the mark of a hand-made pie. It is possible, however, to bake the pastry in a mould, as with other pies.

The pastry is often used to make pork pies, and the pastry allows a wet filling to be held in.[1]

In popular culture

Four of the contestants on Season 2, Episode 5 of The Great British Bake Off used hot water crust pastry to build tiered pies for their showstoppers. The crust was preferred by the bakers for its strength.

See also

References

  1. Dan Lepard (24 November 2007). "Hot water crust pastry". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 20 April 2013.

External links

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.