Savory Hand Pies with Flaky Pastry
This flaky pastry is a quick version of puff pastry and is wonderful to use for savory hand pies. I filled these mini pies with a pork, potato, and onion filling tossed with a honey bourbon sauce. Making flaky pastry dough from scratch does take time, but one bite will convince you that it was worth the effort.
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This recipe was originally published on June 20, 2019. It was republished on November 3, 2022 with updates.
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Face Your Pastry Fears
In my quest to dive into the world of pastry, I’ve covered cream puffs, croissants, tarts, and now flaky pastry. Flaky pastry is a type of rough puff pastry. Although it is quicker than a full puff pastry, it takes a bit of time.
As an amateur baker, it can be intimidating to come at a pastry recipe with no clue what you’re doing. I have dabbled in the world of pastry, but it’s not my area of expertise. Unfortunately, waiting to tackle pastry is not going to help improve your skills. You just kinda have to dive in.
Savory Hand Pies
These savory hand pies consist of two main elements. One, the insanely and unreasonably delicious pork filling. And two, the flaky pastry dough that we are making from scratch.
We’re going to tackle each of these elements in due course. Keep reading for everything you need to know! Plus, you may want to watch the step by step video tutorial for the flaky pastry dough further down on this page.
Pork, Potato, and Onion Honey Bourbon Filling
This recipe makes a MASSIVE amount of filling. You can one hundred percent cut it in half. I would just halve the pork, potato, and onion. Keep the sauce amount the same for maximum flavor.
I used a bag of shredded potatoes instead of grating them myself. That meant I could easily prepare the filling a day in advance without the potatoes turning weird colors. If you use freshly grated potatoes, you should fill and bake the savory hand pies the same day.
I mixed my leftover filling with eggs, shredded mozzarella, and a splash of milk. Then I portioned out tablespoons of the mixture into my greased mini muffin pans and baked fro 12 minutes at 350℉. They were delicious mini egg bites!
Other Filling Ideas
You can fill these savory hand pies with anything you want. Check out some of these flavor ideas for inspiration:
- Italian sausage, peppers, and cheese
- Chorizo and potato
- Pizza sauce, toppings, and mozzarella
- Chicken, onion, and white wine sauce
Related Reading: Rough Puff Pastry From Scratch
Homemade Flaky Pastry
In order to get deliciously flaky layers in our savory hand pies, we will be laminating the dough by folding room temperature butter into it several times. If the butter gets too soft or melty at any point, cover the dough and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
The hardest part, for me anyways, is that first roll out. Yep, before you even start laminating. When you dump out that ragged dough, it has no shape. Use your hands and bench scrape to constantly shape the dough into a rectangle as you roll it out. After the first fold, it gets much easier.
Can I use Store Bought Puff Pastry?
Probably. I did that when I made my puff pastry breakfast pockets. The concept is basically the same, though you may need to adjust your bake time.
Tips and Tricks
My number one, big, giant tip is to make flaky pastry on a cool day. The middle of the summer is not ideal, but you can always just seriously blast the AC so that your kitchen stays cool and the dough doesn’t get melty. Using cold filling is also a big help.
As you roll the dough out repeatedly, make sure it doesn’t stick to the work surface by adding flour as needed and regularly moving the dough around. If the dough sticks, it could cause butter to break through, or tear the dough.
Shaping the Hand Pies
Last time I made these, I cut out circles for my savory hand pies, but that ends up wasting dough. This time, I cut twelve rectangles of dough in order to make 6 pies. Add filling to one piece of dough, top with another piece of dough, crimp and trim the edges, then chill.
Once the hand pies are chilled, lightly brush with an egg wash, score a few lines on the top to let steam escape, and sprinkle with a bit of flaky sea salt.
One small note about the egg wash though. Try to avoid getting it on the edges of the dough, where you sealed the two pieces. The egg will prevent the dough from expanding and becoming flaky. Not the end of the world, but keep it in mind.
Related Reading: Shrimp & Grits Waffles
Parchment Paper With The Assist
You may have noticed that I baked my little hand pies on small squares of parchment on top of a silicone mat. That’s not necessary. Just either/or would work. And you should also be able to fit all 6 on one tray.
However, I decided to shape the pies on the individual squares so that I could easily move them around. I’ve got a silly skinny fridge that can’t fit a baking sheet easily. Instead, I put them on a smaller tray to chill, then transferred them to my baking sheet before baking.
Watch & Learn
Whenever I tackle a new baking skill, I make sure to watch videos to fully understand the technique. If you’ve never made a rough puff pastry before, be sure to check out my step by step video tutorial.
As you can see, I rolled and shaped my flaky pastry dough on a marble slab. This is totes not necessary, but if you have one, now is a good time to pull it out. The marble will stay cool and help keep the dough from getting oozy.
Enjoy!
Flaky pastry dough is the perfect choice for making savory hand pies. Layers of flaky, buttery dough bake up to a beautiful golden brown. This pastry dough isn’t too complicated and doesn’t require hours of prep work like other varieties. Give it a try and tell me what flavor combos you come up with!
Savory Pork Hand Pies with Flaky Pastry Crust
Ingredients
Savory Pork Filling*
- 1 lb ground pork
- 10 oz shredded potatoes
- 5 oz sliced onion
- 1 tsp honey
- 4 fl oz bourbon
- 8 fl oz chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp cold butter
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- Salt & Pepper
Flaky Pastry Dough
- 6 oz unsalted butter room temperature
- 8 oz all- purpose flour
- pinch of salt
- 4- 6 Tbsps cold water
Egg Wash & Topping
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp milk
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
Savory Pork Filling
- Brown the ground pork over medium heat until completely cooked, about 5- 7 minutes. Drain any excess fat, but do not wipe down the pan, and toss with the shredded potatoes in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cook the onions over medium heat until translucent and beginning to caramelize, about 5- 10 minutes. Stir in the honey and cook for 30 seconds.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the bourbon. Place the pan on a high heat and reduce to roughly 1 tablespoon of liquid.
- Add the broth and reduce until there is about 2- 3 fluid ounces of liquid (about 1/4 cup or a bit more).
- Stir in the butter, vinegar, and add salt and pepper to taste. Adjust the flavors as needed.
- Toss the sauce with the pork and potato mixture. Cover and let the filling cool down in the fridge until it is time to assemble the hand pies.
Flaky Pastry
- Divide the butter into four 3 tablespoon (or 1 ½ oz) portions. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add one portion (3 Tbsps/ 1 ½ oz) of butter and use a pastry blender to combine.
- Once the butter is mostly combined, slowly add in the cold water until the dough comes together. Use a dough whisk, spoon, or fork to combine.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead a few times to form a cohesive ball. Roll the dough out to a rectangle about 7x12 inches. Dot the top 2/3 (8 in) of the dough with one portion (3 Tbsps/ 1 ½ oz) of butter.
- Fold the bottom third up over the butter. Then fold the top third over that. Rotate the dough 90° and flip it over to ensure even butter distribution. Make sure that the dough does not stick to your work surface. Add more flour if necessary.
- Roll the dough out again and repeat the butter and folding process for the remaining two portions of butter.
- After the final portion is folded into the dough, roll out to 7x12 inches again and do a final fold without adding any more butter. Cover the dough in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Hand Pies... Assemble!
- Roll the flaky pastry dough to a 12x12 inch square on a lightly floured surface. On one side of the square, mark out every 3 inches. Repeat on the opposite side. On the remaining two sides, mark every 4 inches. Slice the dough to create twelve 3x4 in pastry squares.
- Take a square and lightly roll it out a bit. Place a scoop of the filling on one pastry square. Make sure to leave space around the edge. Take another square and roll that out so it is large enough to cover the filling.
- Place it on top of the filling and use your fingers to lightly press the two pieces of pastry together. Lightly, yet firmly, press the tines of a fork around the edge of the pie to crimp. If desired, trim a bit of the edge away to get a sharp shape. Repeat with the remaining dough to create 6 hand pies.
- Place the pies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Cover and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. While they chill, begin preheating the oven to 350°F
- Whisk the egg and milk together. Take the baking tray out of the fridge and lightly brush with the egg wash. Make 3 slashes across the top of each pie with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
- Bake for 40- 45 minutes, or until the pastries are a nice golden brown.
Notes
- If the dough gets to warm, place it in the fridge for about 10 minutes before continuing.
- This makes a TON of filling. You will not use it all.
- For the potatoes, I used half a bag of hashbrown mix (Simply Potatoes brand) so that they wouldn't discolor.
- Or bake at 375F for 30- 35 minutes.
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Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
21 Comments
Chef Rod Knight
Hi Colleen,
I ‘m using your pie dough recipe to make a black-eyed pea, mozz, and morning star crumble hand pie. I don’t know how it will turn out (currently, the dough is resting in the fridge), I wanted to reach out and say thx for taking the time to share this straightforward dough recipe 🙂
Be Well
-Rod
Colleen
That combination sounds delicious! Thanks for stopping by to leave a comment 😀
Kathleen O'Hara
My rating is for the flakey pastry! (I used a different filling.) Oh my! The pastry turned out great! So flakey and buttery. I’ll definitely be using this recipe again. I had to add a bit more water.. closer to 8 Tablespoons.. but it didn’t damage the tender flakey texture! Thanks!
Colleen
Fantastic! I’m so glad you enjoyed the pastry! What filling did you go with? This pastry works so well with any number of yummy flavor combinations.
Christine
I made these this weekend, and they were very good! I didn’t see the note about the recipe making more filling than will be needed until after I assembled everything, so I ended up making the crust again a few days later to finish up the filling and then flash froze the assembled pies for a later meal. The filling is tasty as is! I made a few minor adjustments the second time around on the dough: I left one 3-Tbsp portion of butter cold, which I found easier to work into the flour+salt for making the base of the dough. I ended up needing closer to 8 Tbsp cold water for my dough to come together, and I used my food processor with dough blade to make it even easier. The dough came out incredibly flaky! It was great to be able to get such a flaky dough in such as short amount of time. Thanks for sharing a great recipe.
Colleen
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Jen
Thank you for the recipe. We are not much for the taste of bourbon and had no honey and used a little sausage seasoning for pork and beef broth as our moisture. We just made the filling and tasted it and added a liitle extra seasoning and more beef broth (as my ground pork was very lean) and to make sure we liked it before filling the pastries. Once it tasted and swallowed perfectly we proceeded.
I think often cooks need to learn that if you find it hard to eat a recipe filling there is no sense proceeding with the project until you have tweaked it to taste and swallow to your liking. Often different cooks putting out recipes are using ingedients from another area that act differently than what you have on hand. I.e. my ground pork was extremely lean and needed a lot more moisture so my filling was not dry and hard to swallow.
We did use a premade flakey pastry just becuse we needed to cut the prep time down. They were very good , very flakey and crisp while just the right of moisture on the inside. I used the fresh grated potaoes. We will make again with the other half of the filling and your dough recipe. We served it up with fresh tomatoes and cucumber chunks from our garden. Very yummy supper!!
Diane
I used a scooper for the filling to ensure I was using equal portions for the 6 pies, and then used the same scooper to transfer leftovers to a smaller bowl. I ended up with 8 additional servings! Definitely cut the ingredients in half to make 6 hand pies – not sure why a recipe would make more than twice as much filling than needed.
Also, keep the sauce proportions without halfing – there was not enough in the final product and so the hand pies were bit dry and not as flavorful as we would like.
Finally, I used fresh russet potatoes since I had them on-hand, but the recipe didn’t mention if they needed any prep (I soak and squeeze to remove starches so they don’t brown). I ended up baking the hand pies for 43 minutes at 350 and it was fine, though I think sautéing a few minutes (maybe with the onion) would’ve been better.
Colleen
Hi Diane! I’m sorry the filling didn’t work out quite the same for you. If you’ll notice in the notes on the recipe card and in the blog post, I mentioned the massive amount of filling this recipe makes. The post has much more detail. I didn’t change the recipe because I can’t write a recipe with amounts I’ve never used before. The extra filling became part of my breakfast the following week. I also did not give any instructions on how to prepare the potatoes because I did not use fresh potatoes. Again, you’ll find info about that in the notes and main body of the text. My pies weren’t dry, but these are not super saucy pies. That sauce is delicious though, so even more of it would always be yummy.
Kim
Great tip on waiting for a cool day. Its cold 9 days out of the year here so I always have to adjust cookjng in the summer!
Colleen
Blast your AC and use a marble pastry board, if you’ve got one. It might just be a bit messier with all the heat. But still delicious!
Pauline
This is one thing I’d love to master. I’m not a great baker but I use alot of flaky pastry for all sorts of dishes. I’ll have to try this for borakas.
Colleen
This is definitely something you could master. It will probably take a bit of practice, but it’s not a very complicated recipe. Let me know if you try this for borakas!
Morgan
This looks incredible!! That flaky crust is everything!!
Colleen
Thanks 🙂 I love a flaky crust!
angela
Flaky bakey goodness – if that was real term it would do apply here. These hand pies look like the perfect way to sneak more veggies into my kids’ diet – hidden in a pie – oh yeah! Sneaky mommy… (insert evil laugh!)
Colleen
We’ll make it a real term 😉 I am all about sneaking more veggies into my son (and me!).
Jennifer
Your dough looks incredible!! Yum!!
Colleen
Thank you so much 🙂
Erika
I love hand pies. These look amazing!
Colleen
Thanks! They were super flaky 🙂