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Today I am sharing with you the recipe for Paul Hollywood´s Hand-raised Chicken, Bacon and Apricot Pies. You might remember these from Season 3 of the Great British Bake Off (Yes, it´s really been that long!), when Paul asked the bakers to make them for the technical challenge in pastry week!
I am obsessed with the third season of Bake Off, it was my favourite season by far and John Whaite has always been my favourite winner! The recipe for the pies can be found in the book from the series (I´ll leave a link to it here), which I can highly recommend!.
Season 3 was my favourite season of Bake Off!
I really loved the flavour of these chicken, bacon and apricot pies. Obviously, chicken and bacon go really well together, and I also combine them in my FAVOURITE Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie. At first, I was a bit sceptical about the apricots, but they actually add a bit of sweetness to the pie that goes really well with the saltiness from the bacon! These pies were great and will definitely make them again!
So, if you are up for a bit of a technical challenge and want to improve those Hot Water Crust Pastry skills (Check out my baking basics posts about it here), then let´s get cracking! On your marks, get set, bake!
What is the “Technical Challenge” with these Chicken, Bacon and Apricot Pies?
So, what is the technically challenging part of this recipe and the reason for Paul Hollywood choosing this recipe for the bakers?
Well, for one, the bakers had to master the art of making Hot Water Crust Pastry. Now, in my opinion, Hot Water Crust Pastry is actually one of the easiest pastries to make. It´s not as fiddly as shortcrust, and by no means takes as long to make as puff pastry! I have a whole post on how to make the perfect Hot Water Crust Pastry. So make sure to go and check out that baking basics post here!
The real challenge, however, was to use the pastry and hand-raise the pies, using a wooden dolly. They are pretty hard to come by though I feel, so below I´ve included some information about alternatives you can use.
Finally, the pies need to be neatly crimped, baked well and then filled with the right amount of jelly to make a perfectly filled pie!
What alternative “Equipment” could you use?
Pie dollies (wooden cylinders with a handle on top) are difficult to come by, and unless you can make one yourself, you might need something else to mould your pies around.
For one, you could use a jar of similar dimensions (roughly 13cm wide and 10cm high, but I used sth 10cm wide and it was fine.). Just make sure you grease it with some olive oil so that the pastry doesn´t stick!
I didn´t have a jar of an appropriate size, so instead, I made life a little easier for myself and used a small round baking tin (10cm diameter) to stabilise the bottom. Because it is not very deep though, my pie had a bit of a bulge on the side, haha!
This is the mini cake tin set I own, but I have seen on Amazon that you can actually get deep round moulds especially for pies. I know they defeat the purpose of it being a hand-raised pie, but if you have one of those I´d definitely use it!
Great Occasions for these Chicken, Bacon and Apricot Pies!
These chicken, bacon and apricot pies are great for picnics or packed lunches! Prepare them the day in advance, and leave them to chill in the fridge overnight to completely set the jelly! They´d be perfect for a picnic as they are perfect to share! One pie serves about 3-4 people (although they may seem small, just a quarter of it is extremely filling!).
You could also make mini versions of these pies and make them in a cupcake/muffin tin! For more information on that, check out a similar recipe to this: Paul Hollywood´s Mini Pork Pies.
I also took pieces of this pie to university for a packed lunch and enjoyed it with a fresh salad! The pie freezes really well in individual portions (I froze it in quarters) and still tastes really good once defrosted. I also only made one pie, as halving the recipe is very easy!
More Recipes:
If you are looking for more summer and picnic recipes, why not check out some of my other recipes:
- Mini Pork Pies
- Mary Berry´s Lemon Drizzle Cake
- Colourful Quinoa Salad
- Coronation Chicken
- Ultimate Guacamole with Tortilla Chips
- Mini Custard Tarts
- Pizza Baguettes
- Puff Pastry Palmiers (Parma ham and Parmesan)
- Chicken, Red Pepper and Avocado Wraps
- Homemade Hummus and Vegetable Batons
Paul Hollywood´s Hand-raised Chicken, Bacon and Apricot Pies
Recipe
Ingredients (makes 2 pies, but you can easily halve the recipe to make 1):
FOR THE HOT WATER CRUST PASTRY:
- 200g plain flour
- 40g strong white flour
- 50g cold butter, diced
- 60g lard
- 100ml boiling water
- 1 tsp salt
FOR THE FILLING:
- 300g chicken breast fillet, diced
- 300g smoked back bacon rashers, cut into strips
- 240g dried apricots, chopped
- 1 tbsp dried thyme
- salt, pepper
TO FINISH:
- 1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt (to glaze)
- 2 leaves (4g) of gelatine (I used Dr. Oetker´s)
- 1 chicken stock cube
YOU WILL ALSO NEED:
- 2 pie dollies, 13cm diameter and 7.25cm high, greased with some olive oil
- OR 2 jars, roughly the same size, greased with some olive oil
- OR 10cm round baking tin (no need to grease)
Method:
- Start by preparing the hot water crust pastry for these chicken, bacon and apricot pies. Combine the plain and strong white flour in a bowl, followed by the cold butter. Using your fingertips, carefully rub it into the flour.
- Next, in a small pot heat the boiling water, lard and salt over a medium heat until the lard has completely melted. Pour over the flour mix and stir with a wooden spoon until the pastry starts to come together.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and start to work it with your hands (you might need to wait a minute if it is still too hot to touch) until it comes together into a smooth dough (For more tips check out my post on How to Make Hot Water Crust Pastry).
- Divide the dough in half, wrapping one half in clingfilm until needed. Set aside ¼ quarter of the dough for the lid, and roll out the rest into a rough circle using a floured rolling pin. Then use your hands to mould it around the well-oiled pie dolly or jam jar, or press it gently into the base and up the sides of a round pie mould baking tin. Repeat with the other portion of dough and place into the fridge to firm up.
- Next, use the two remaining small portions of pastry to make the lids. Roll into disks that are roughly 13cm in diameter (or slightly smaller is using a 10cm tin) and make a hole in the centre of each. Transfer the lids to a plate and put them into the fridge, too. Leave for about 20 minutes until firm.
- In the meantime, you can prepare the filling for your pies. Roughly dice the chicken and cut the bacon into strips, and put them in two into separate bowls. Season the chicken with some salt, pepper and the dried thyme. The bacon is already quite salty so only season that with pepper and thyme. Cut the dried apricots into small chunks and set aside until needed.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Remove the pie cases from the fridge and carefully remove the pie dolly or jam jar (filling the jam jar with hot water may help). If the cases start to soften again when you are handling them, return them to the fridge for another few minutes until firm. If you are using a pie baking tin, just keep your case in it. Use a sharp knife to trim the top of the pies so that they have a neat edge and are about 10cm tall.
- Now you are ready to fill your pies. Start with a layer of bacon, then add the chicken and finally a layer of apricots, pressing down firmly to pack in as much filling as you can. Repeat the three layers once more until the case is filled to the top.
- Remove the pie lids from the fridge and place them on top of the pie. Use your thumbs and index finger to crimp the pastry together and make sure it is completely sealed.
- Put the pies onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and brush the tops with the beaten egg, mixed with a pinch of salt, to glaze.
- Bake the chicken, bacon and apricot pies in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and crisp. Then remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
- Near the end of the baking time, soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. Dissolve the chicken stock cube in 150ml of boiling water. Squeeze out as much of the water from the gelatine sheets as you can, then stir them into the chicken stock until dissolved.
- While the pies are still hot, carefully pour in the chicken stock into each pie through the hole in the top (you may to enlarge it again a little). Go slowly, only pouring in as much stock until it reaches the hole. Wait for it to disappear into the pie before adding more. This step requires a little patience, but it´s important that the pie is filled completely. Repeat until you no longer see it disappear into the pie, as this will mean all the cavities have been filled.
- Leave the pies to cool completely and then they are best chilled in the fridge overnight for the jelly to set.
