When making a traditional pastry pie, it’s a good idea to keep these tips in mind:
Keep Cool
Pastry behaves better when you keep your hands cool. If they get warm, run them under a cold running tap then pat dry.
Use yummy fats
Use proper, natural, good old-fashioned ingredients in your pastry, like butter, lard or suet. These will make your pie taste 10 times better. If you’re using a vegetable suet instead of the traditional beef version, look for one containing non-hydrogenated fat.
Love your leftovers!
It’s a fact: leftovers make great pies. More specifically, Sunday roast leftovers make great pies. So, rather than letting meat or vegetables go to waste, give them a new lease of life as tasty fillings.
Get creative
Decorating your pie is a fun way to use up scraps of leftover pastry and give your pie personality. Just don’t go over-board: too much and you’ll end up with an uncooked lid due to the double thickness of the pastry.
Give it a good glaze
A good glaze of beaten free range egg will make your pie beautifully glossy, so glaze the pie all over before adding the decorations, then give them a good brush too. Sprinkles on a pie top are great too. Black cracked pepper, dried herbs or nuts all look great sprinkled over a pie before baking.