Chicken and leek pie with sourdough discard crust
Equipment
- 2 small pie dishes of 17cmØ or 1 large pie dish of 26cmØ
Ingredients
Sourdough discard pie crust
- 200 gr plain flour
- 125 gr cold butter cubed
- 100 gr sourdough starter discard
Chicken & leek pie filling
- 300 gr plucked roast chicken or 2 fresh medium chicken breasts
- 1 medium leek
- 200 ml milk
- 200 ml chicken stock
- 30 gr butter or olive oil
- 30 gr plain flour
- ½ tsp dried thyme or 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparation for sourdough discard pie crust
- You can make the pie crust a day or so ahead of time if you want a longer sourdough fermentation time. But a short rest of about 20 minutes will do just fine too.
- Cube the butter and add to a medium-sized bowl together with the plain flour. Rub the flour into the butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Add the sourdough discard to the flour and butter mixture, and mix until combined. Try not to overmix, for this will result in a chewier pie crust.
- Leave to rest for 20 minutes in the fridge or longer if you prefer the dough to have a longer fermentation time.
- Grease and flour your pie dish, first use a pastry brush to brush some olive oil or butter on your pie dish, then dust it with flour. This will create a very good non-stick layer.
- If you're making 2 small pies, then make sure to use half for the first pie and the other half of the dough and filling for the second one.
- Flour your work surface and roll out your pie crust while turning it from time to time to ensure an even thickness, till it is about 5 mm thick. Then gently roll your dough onto your rolling pin, and drape it over your pie dish and press the dough to the sides.
- Roll out the remainder of your dough to create the pastry lid.
Preparation for the chicken & leek pie filling
- I tend to use leftover chicken from my roast chicken the day before. But you can also use fresh chicken. Just make sure you cook them a bit longer to make sure they will be completely cooked through.
- Slice the leek into half-moon shapes by first cutting it lengthwise and then slicing medium-thin half-moon slices. If you don't cut off the bottom of the leek when you've sliced it lengthwise, this is also a very convenient way of washing your leek without too much fuss.
- Cut up your chicken into equal pieces if you're using raw chicken. If you're using leftover chicken from your Sunday roast. Then you can simply pluck the meat off of the chicken and rip them into similarly sized pieces.
- Melt some butter or olive oil into a small to medium-sized pan. Once the butter or oil has melted, add the flour and stir to combine. Let bubble on medium heat for a minute or two until the flour has been cooked.
- Slowly add the milk and chicken stock to the pan. Making sure to stir well and add the liquids slowly to ensure an even sauce without lumps. If you add the liquids too quickly, you risk the sauce separating and lumps appearing. With a lot of elbow grease, you can still remedy it, but it requires more effort.
- Add in the thyme, leek, and chicken. Making sure that if you're using raw chicken that you cook the chicken a bit longer. If you're using leftover roast chicken, then you can simply stir it a bit to soften the leeks and season to taste with some salt and pepper.
Assembling & baking your pie
- Fill your pie crust with your chicken and leek filling and top with the pastry lid. Brush the edges of the pie with some milk and press them firmly together in whatever fashion you prefer.
- Brush some milk onto the top of the pie for a nice golden crust and sprinkle on some coarse sea salt. And create a small air vent with a knife, although I quite like using an apple corer to cut out a small round hole.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 220 C for 30 minutes for the two small pies or 45 minutes for the large pie.