Baking in the Brewery: Chicken and leek pie

I haven't been able to post much on this blog in a while, mainly because of work commitments at the very start of this new year. As many people tend to, I came up with a few New Year's Resolutions on the 31st December. One of these resolutions, perhaps the one I intend to keep the most, is to bake something every week for a calendar year. This might not sound like too much of a challenge for many people, but with an increasing workload and the need to finish a PhD by the end of September, it is perhaps more challenging than it first appears. I'm also fairly new to baking in general, since I've steered clear of 'proper baking' from the time of Year 9 food technology, during which I experienced a combination of exploding minced pies and a Swiss Roll which simply refused to roll. I'm determined, therefore, to go beyond fairly easy all-in-one sponge recipes and push myself a bit further during the course of the year.

For my first baking experience of 2013, I decided to bake a pie. Now I copped out a little in that I bought the shortcrust pastry for the pie (and therefore took out some of the effort involved) but I cooked everything else and devised a recipe which I think works really well.

I used one block of ready-made shortcrust pastry and divided it into two pieces; the larger piece for the base and sides of the pie, the smaller piece for the lid. I pre-heated the oven at 180 degrees, roughly chopped up some leeks and added them to a saucepan with a little olive oil. Having browned the leeks, I added three chicken thighs, each cut into two large pieces. I fried the leeks and the chicken until brown, then added just enough milk (around a quarter of a pint) to cover the chicken and leeks. Having brought the milk to boil, I then turned the sauce down and left it to simmer for about 15 minutes, before seasoning with salt and pepper.

On a lightly floured surface, I then rolled out the bigger pastry block until it was the thickness of a pound coin and big enough to line the bottom and sides of my small (20cm x 10cm max) pie dish. Rolling one edge of the pastry around the rolling pin allows you to pick the pastry up without breaking it up. Lower the pastry into the dish (greased lightly with butter) and ensure that the pastry fits snugly to the bottom and sides of the dish. I then spooned the filling into the pie, and having rolled out the smaller portion of the pastry so that it was the same length and width as the pie dish (and the same, pound coin thickness), I placed this pastry portion over the top of the pie. To seal, I crimped along the edges of the dish, making sure that the 'base' of the pie was joined neatly to the lid. I placed a small hole in the very centre of the lid to allow steam to escape, and then baked the pie in the oven for 25 minutes, until the pastry was golden brown.