Welsh Pasties (Gluten Free)

Contributed by Angela Matthews

A Wintry Mix Can Be Expected

This week Dave brought us beautiful turnips, mizuna, spinach, green onions and carrots. A perfect mix for warm wintry baked dishes.

I make peasant food. Good, hearty, stick to your ribs peasant food, my favorite kind. So today I valiantly attempted gluten free Welsh pasties. No, not the strip tease kind! These are hand sized pies full of meat and vegetables. Appalachian men took them out into the coal mines and the fields wrapped in a towel to keep them warm until lunch. Sometimes they were made with meat on one side and fruit on the other, lunch and dessert in one container.

Welsh pasties, Spanish empanada, Polish pirogues, Italian calzones, Indian samosa – all hand pies that begin with a crusty dough and hearty filling that can keep the average worker filled until dinner time. Mine need to be wheat free and gluten free to meet the health needs of my household but I will give time and measurements for wheat flour pastry as well. Also, if you want to save time you can use pre-made pasty sheets from the refrigerator section of your grocery store.

Pastry Recipe

2½ cups of flour (all purpose wheat or gluten free mix)

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks ice cold butter cut into tablespoon size chunks

8 – 10 tablespoons ice water

1 tablespoon vinegar (I prefer apple cider)

4 cups of meat and vegetable filling (see below)

For gluten free, stir a cold egg to the first 8 tablespoons of water immediately before using it.

Chilled bowl & butter chunks.

Mix the flour and salt together in a large, chilled mixing bowl. Quickly cut the butter into the flour. I used a pastry cutter but you can also process with a couple pulses of your food processor. You are finished cutting when the mix is chunky and the size of large peas. Place the bowl in your refrigerator for 20 minutes to half an hour.

Clumps after tossed with liquid.

Combine the first 8 tablespoons of ice water with the vinegar. (Add the egg for the gluten free flour mix.) Take the bowl of flour mix from the refrigerator, make a well in the mix, pour the water & vinegar mixture into the well and quickly mix with a fork. If the dough is too dry add the remaining water and toss again. The water should complete be absorbed, the dough clumpy not like cookie dough. Place bowl in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into a ball on a floured surface and split the dough into four separate balls. Roll each ball of dough into a circle. (For gluten free I cut into eight squares.)

Rolled gluten free dough.

For wheat crust: Take one circle of dough. Place it on an ungreased baking sheet and fill one side of the round with meat and vegetable filling. Fold the remaining dough over to make the pie. Crimp the edges of the pie together and repeat until all pies are filled.

Squares of gluten free pasty dough.

For gluten free: The gluten free dough is not as elastic as the wheat dough, so you will not want to fold it. Instead, place a square of dough onto the baking sheet. Fill the center of the dough with filling. Place a second square of dough over the top and crimp the edges.

Place meat pies in the oven at 350° for 40 – 60 minutes. The crust will be golden brown and flaky when finished.

Serve with a dipping sauce if you like. My family usually preferred something like ketchup but others prefer a meat gravy or spicy sauce.

Vegetables for filling.

Meat and Vegetable Filling 

The filling is simple. Use cooked meat in your filling. Roasted beef or chicken, cold ham and sausage are good fillings. I had low fat turkey sausage in the refrigerator so that is what I used. Root vegetables are the perfect pasty texture so I used carrots, turnips and potatoes along with a little onion. It takes 1 cup to 1½ cup filling for each pie. (As you are cutting the vegetables, don’t forget to put vegetable roots, skins, wilted (but not spoiled) bits, etc. into your stock container. (See post on “Homemade Soup Stock”.)

Helpful Hints 

Finished Welsh Pasties
A little brown on the edges because I was trying
 to shovel snow and bake at the same time.

Start your pie crust and use the time you chill the crust to prepare the vegetable and meat mixture. You cannot chill the dough too much.

We Want Your Ideas

If you have recipe suggestions, please send them to coop.cooking@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name so we can recognize your contribution. Photos are welcome but not necessary.