Great British Bake Off Bake Along – Decorative Chicken & Mushroom Pie

Pastry week in the Great British Bake Off tent was another tense one!

For the signature bake; we saw the bakers challenged to make an assortment of decorative pies with a common theme so they all linked together in some way!

Then they were challenged, in the technical round, to make Portuguese custard tarts which had to have that signature swirl on the bottom and filled with a lightly browned yet creamy custard.

Then, for the Showstopper; they had to create a hand raised pie. There were some difficult decisions that some the bakers had to make, such as Liam battling with whether he should stick to his guns and bake the pastry inside his tin or go for the way that he should have been completing the task and mould it around the outside of the tin…he did of course choose the latter and he was all the better for doing that as he was crowned Star Baker this week! We sadly said goodbye to one of my favourite bakers in the tent; Julia. Even Sandi shed a few tears when she had to announce who was leaving the tent this week…so sad!

For my bake along recipe this week, I decided to make a decorative savoury pie! This is my go to recipe when I want to make a nice homemade pie – chicken and mushroom.

I used both shortcrust pastry to hold the pie filling and puff pastry for the top and decided to go for an Autumnal theme using some leaf cutters to add the decorative element to the pie.

For this pie you will need the following:
Ingredients:
– 1 Pack Shortcrust pastry
– 1 Pack Puff pastry
– 1 Large egg, whisked
– 1 tsp butter
– 1 Chicken breast – cut into cubes
– 2-3 Small mushrooms – sliced
– 100 ml Chicken stock (I used half a stock cube with 100ml boiling water)
– 50ml single cream
– Freshly ground Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1) Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Spray a small pie tin/dish with non-stick cooking spray. Roll out the shortcrust pastry to about 1mm thick and line the pie dish with the pastry then cut away the excess. Use a fork to prick the pastry. Scrunch up a piece of greaseproof paper and lay on top of the pastry in the dish and fill the dish with pie weights. Roll out the puff pastry to about 2mm thickness and cut a lid the same size as the top of your pie dish. Use cutters to cut out any designs from the lid to make little holes for steam to escape through whilst baking. You can use any cutters to cut out shapes to decorate the lid of your pie and use the whisked egg to attach the shapes to the lid. I laid my design out before attaching with the egg wash.

2) blind bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a small pan over a low heat and add the butter. Add the mushrooms and cook until they start to soften. Add the chicken and cook until all sides are sealed and white. Pour in the chicken stock and simmer for a couple of minutes then add the cream and simmer over a low heat. Season with the salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

3) Remove the blind baked pastry from the oven and carefully remove the pie weights and baking paper. Pour the chicken and mushroom filling into the case and then use a pastry brush to paint the edge with egg wash. Carefully place the decorated puff pastry lid to the pie and brush over the egg wash.