For Love and Travel

This pie crust is from scratch. I had never made pie crust before Sunday morning. It was tedious and exhausting and by the end I wanted to cry and give up. I pressed through it all and refused to give in to buying pre-made crust and let me tell you something… It was SO worth it. It was the most delicious crust I have ever tasted. The temporary loss of my sanity was well worth it.

I made my dough without a food processor, nor with an electric mixer with a dough hook. I don’t even own a pastry blender/knife. I made this using my hands for tools. Welcome back to the dark ages.

It gets better though. When it came time to roll out my dough I realized we don’t own a rolling pin either!!! I know we are lame and I promise that will be changing very soon. To improvise I took the wine bottle from the fridge coated it in flour and set to work. Ten points to Gryffindor for creativity!!!

Are y’all ready for this awesome
pie crustchicken pot pie recipe?

3 and 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 of a tsp of salt

1 and 1/2 cups cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces (if doing it by hand like me the smaller the better)

6 Tbsp of ice cold water

6 Tbsp of butter

1 onion chopped

1 carrot chopped

3 stalks of celery chopped

Salt

Pepper

Dried thyme

6 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 cups of chicken stock

1 cup of milk

2 cups of cooked chicken chopped

1 cup of frozen peas

A handful of parsley leaves

1 egg white

As you pour the flour into the bowl add some of the salt. It will help making blending it all together easier given there’s so little salt compared to flour

Add in your butter by 1/2 of a cup at a time. It’ll make it easier to blend into a dough if you work the butter in gradually

Once all all the butter is added and blending in you will have a very crumbly dough, don’t worry it’s suppose to be that way (I freaked out at mine and proceeded to consult YouTube videos to see if this was correct)

Add your water one tablespoon at a time mixing as you go

Once your dough is formed separate into two equal balls and wrap in plastic wrap

Allow your dough to chill for a minimum of 2 hours but no more than 24 hours before use

Remove the dough before you start work on the filling so it has plenty of time to come to room temperature

Roll out each ball to 1/8 of an inch in thickness

Place one into the bottom of your round baking pan

Heat your oven to 425 degrees F

In a large pot begin melting your butter over medium heat

Once your butter has melted add in your chopped onion, carrot, and celery

Saute for 5 minutes

Add your pepper, salt, and thyme to your liking

Stir in your flour and cook for 3 minutes stirring constantly

Slowly add the chicken stock as you stir

Bring this to a boil before reducing heat to a simmer and covering for 2 minutes while it thickens

Add your milk and cook for 4 minutes stirring throughout

Add your chicken, peas, and parsley

Blend everything together

Pour into pie pan over the dough

Add your second layer of pie dough

Trim the excuse off and pinch closed all the way around

Create four slits in the dough so it can vent while in the oven

With a pastry brush, brush the egg white onto the dough (this helps achieve that golden brown color and prevents burning)

Bake for 30 minutes

Remove once down and allow the pie to rest for 5 – 10 minutes before serving

A lot of work goes into making this dish and I promise you it will be worth it. You just have to power though losing you sanity. It will come back the moment you take the first bite.