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Ingredients  

For the pastry

  • 120 g strong bread flour
  • 100 g plain flour
  • 120 g water
  • 90 g lard
  • 5 g salt

Forthe venison mix

  • 500 g minced venison
  • 50 g melted lard
  • 2 long shallots very finely chopped
  • 1 sprig thyme leaves
  • 10 g salt
  • 4 g black peppercorns, crushed
  • 2 g fennel seeds, crushed
  • 2 g mace

To assemble the pies

  • 1 egg, beaten
  • flour for dusting
  • pie rings / chef rings

Instructions

  • For the pastry
  • Heat the water and the fat until the fat is melted and the water almost boiling.
  • Tip the hot liquid into the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and use a spoon or spatula to bring to a pastry dough, allow to cool for 5 minutes then knead for two minutes until smooth – allow to cool to “just nicely warm” before use.

For the venison mix

  • Mix everything together!

To assemble the pies

  • Rollout half the pasty to the thickness of around 3 mm – use plenty of flour to stop it sticking.
  • Use a small pan lid or cut out ring to cut circles roughly 30% larger than the pie rings – line three of the pie rings with these, then re roll the remaining pastry from that half of the batch.
  • Fill the pie rings with venison mix  and loosely spread this out, cut lids for the pies using the re rolled pastry and place these on top – crimping round the edges to seal, and discard any over the top pasty excess. Repeat with the other half of the pastry / venison mix
  • Lightly egg wash the top of the pies.
  • Make a small hole in the top of each pie with a paring knife.
  • Bake the pies on a lined sheet in a hot oven (190 degrees c) for 18 – 20 minutes.