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Individual serving hot water crust pies filled with pork sausage, gruyere cheese, and roasted butternut squash in a free standing flaky crust. These rustic British inspired pies have a delicious savory meat filling making them perfect for a weekend brunch or cozy dinner.
Savory Squash and Sausage Pies
These cozy homemade pies are filled with warm hearty flavors of butternut squash, basil, and spicy pork sausage and lots of gruyere cheese. The top of the crust is sprinkled with sesame seeds for a little extra crunch. These are hearty little meat pies and two people can easily split one for lunch. If it gets cold and you feel like some comfort food, I suggest making a batch for either breakfast, brunch, or dinner.
Hot Water Crust Pies
These deep dish pies have a thicker, sturdier hot water crust pastry for holding layers of heavy fillings made of vegetables and meat. These savory pies were traditionally used for creating hand raised pies, that don’t require a dish or loaf pan. In this case, we are lining layering ramekin with hot water pastry dough and then removing them once baked. The goal is to have a free standing pie with a firm crust.
To make the hot water pastry crust you need hot water, a fat (butter, lard), and flour. Nothing to complicated, just a change in the elasticity and structure compared to cold shortcrust pastry. It is important to mold the dough while its still warm. To make this process a bit easier, I decided to make individual small pies using 8-oz ceramic ramekins. If this is all new to you, don’t worry it’s much easier than you think.
Key Ingredients & Test Notes
- All Purpose Flour & Bread Flour: Combining all purpose flour (11% protein) with bread flour (12-13% protein) for a tender yet sturdy pastry.
- Test Note: If you aren’t able to use both, I suggest using just all purpose flour instead.
- European Style Unsalted Butter 82% butterfat: Rich, cultured butter is my preferred choice to make a tender, flaky, buttery crust.
- Test Note: Go with high quality European brand butter like Plugra, Kerrygold, or President if you can.
- Butternut Squash: The addition of roasted squash gives a sweet and nutty tastes that balances nicely with the spicy breakfast sausage.
- Spicy Breakfast Sausage: The meat filling I chose for this hot water crust pie is a ground spicy pork breakfast sausage. Filled with herbs and a little spicy heat, the sausage makes these pork pies taste like a breakfast casserole.
- Gruyere Cheese: A lovely melty cheese with a rich, creamy, salty, and nutty flavor.
- Fresh Thyme & Sage: Fresh herbs lighten the rich filling for a more layered overall fall flavor.
- Sesame Seeds: Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds onto the egg wash for a little extra crunch to the hot water pie crust.
Jenn’s Tips!
- I have not needed to grease my ramekins, but if you feel they will stick, just give a slight coating with butter or oil. But, from my experience they are fine without it and slip out easily.
- Roll pastry dough between two layers of parchment paper with a rolling pin, to prevent sticking.
- Gently use your fingertips or the handle of a wooden spoon to press pastry into bottom and sides, making a smooth even layer. Release any air trapped between pastry and ramekin.
- Trim off over hanging pastry with scissors.
- If you need to ‘paste’ extra pastry in certain places its easy to press it together.
- Create a dome with the filling when packing it into the base of the pie. We want to over-fill our pies as the filling will shrink some when baked.
- Brush egg wash on the lip of the base before adding the top pastry lid, to help seal them together.
- Cut a 1-inch plus sign ‘+’ in the center of the top of the pastry with a sharp knife before baking, to allow steam to release.
Leftovers & Storage
- Refrigerate: Store pies in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
- Re-heat: To warm, place pies on a baking sheet, then bake at 350F (180C) for about 10 minutes or until desired temperature.
FAQs
Pies are baked when they have turned golden brown and when you tap on the lid they sounds and feel firm.
Let pies cool for about 15 minutes before running a knife along the edge of where the ramekin and lid meet. Don’t cut off the pie crust lid. Invert the ramekin and let the pie slip out.
You can use any cooked meat you prefer in this recipe. However, I find the flavors of breakfast sausage add more complexity to the pie. If you’re not a fan of spicy sausage try plain or even sage sausage.
★★★★★ Please leave a star rating and review below if you make this recipe! THANK YOU!!
Hot Water Crust Pies
Equipment
Recipe Video
Ingredients
Hot Water Crust
- 1 1/2 Cups (192 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 Cup (128 grams) bread flour
- 10.5 Tbsp (150 grams) unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2/3 Cup (160 ml) water
Savory Pie Filling
- 2 medium sized butternut squashes, roasted, skin removed, chopped into small pieces
- olive oil, to drizzle
- fine sea salt, to season
- ground black pepper, to season
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- 1 pound (453 grams) pork sausage
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh sage or basil, finely chopped
- 2 cups (200 grams) gruyere cheese, grated, more if needed
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten with a fork
Topping
- sesame seeds, for sprinkling
- 1 large ripened tomato, thinly sliced
Instructions
Cook the Savory Pie Fillings
- Roast the butternut squash first. Start by slicing squashes in half lengthwise. Scrape out seeds, cut the into half moons, chop away skin and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch chunks.2 medium sized butternut squashes
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the butternut squash lightly in olive oil and place on baking sheet. Season well with salt and pepper, toss with the thyme.olive oil, fine sea salt, ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- Bake at 400℉ (200℃) for about 20 minutes until flesh is tender. Remove from oven and let cool.
- Place the sausage in a mixing bowl, add the garlic, pepper flakes, chilli powder, salt, pepper, and sage. Work together with your hands.1 pound (453 grams) pork sausage, 2 large garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon teaspoon crushed red pepper, 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons fresh sage or basil
- Place seasoned sausage in a medium skillet on medium heat, cook until lightly browned. Drain grease and set aside.
Hot Water Crust Pastry
- Place a ramekin top side down on a piece of parchment paper, draw a circle around with a pen around the ramekin. Cut out the circle and save for later to measure the pastry lid.
- Whisk together the flours and salt in a medium bowl.1 1/2 Cups (192 grams) all purpose flour, 1 Cup (128 grams) bread flour, 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- In a medium saucepan, bring butter and water to high heat and boil.10.5 Tbsp (150 grams) unsalted butter, 2/3 Cup (160 ml) water
- Remove pan from heat, add flours mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a dough forms. You may need to press the dough against the sides to pack it together.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead with hands until smooth and elastic (3-4 times). Dough will be HOT, so use plastic gloves or knead then release and continue.
- Weigh your dough ball and divide it into four equal pieces.
- Place a piece of parchment paper down onto the work surface.
- Take one dough ball and flatten into a oval with hands, then lay an additional piece of parchment paper on top.
- Roll the dough between the two pieces of parchment paper into a circle, with a rolling pin until it reaches 3mm in thickness or 1/8 inch.
- Remove the circle of dough from paper and gently lower it into a ramekin.
- Gently use your fingertips to press the warm dough into the bottom and then against the sides. Trim off any overhang with a knife or kitchen scissors.
- Smooth the edges, forming a small lip around the top of the ramekin. Make sure there are no holes in the pastry. If so, it's easy to take a scrap piece and patch by pressing together with fingers.
- Take trimmings and form them back into a ball. Set aside for making pastry lids.
- Repeat this process with the remaining three ramekins.
Fill Pastry
- Preheat oven to 400℉ (200 ℃). Set aside a large rimmed baking sheet.
- Layer the pastry molds, gently pressing each layer to pack and fill in any gaps.
- Start with a layer of gruyere, then chunks of butternut squash, gruyere, sausage, gruyere, and another layer of butternut squash.2 medium sized butternut squashes, 2 cups (200 grams) gruyere cheese, 2 tablespoons fresh sage or basil
- Make sure the top layer of butternut squash is taller than the rim of the ramekin to forming a nice dome. The fillings will shrink as they cook, so we want to pack the pastry full. Finish with a sprinkle of more gruyere cheese.
- Brush a thick coating of egg wash on the lip of pastry that is exposed around the rim of the ramekin.1 large egg
- Roll out one of the reserved balls of dough trimmings between the parchment paper into the size of the paper circle cut out for making pastry lids.
- Place this pastry circle on top of your filling to create a lid, allowing the egg wash to help seal it to the bottom pastry. Gently press with your fingertips to glue the top and bottom dough together.
- Cut two slits in the top of the pastry lid with a small sharp knife. Brush the tops with a light coating of egg wash, and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Option to top with a thin slice of tomato.sesame seeds, 1 large ripened tomato
- Repeat with remaining pies.
Bake Savory Pies
- Place ramekins on the baking sheet, then transfer to the middle or next to lowest oven rack. The pan and the lower rack of the oven will help heat the ramekins and ensure the bottom crust is well baked.
- Bake pies a 400℉( 200℃) for 10 minutes.
- Lower oven temperature to 375℉ (190℉) and continue to bake for an additional 40-50 minutes.
- Bake pies until crust is golden brown and firm. You will see steam coming from the slit in the pies.
- **If you tap on the lid and it feels soft, not crispy or firm, continue bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Place ramekins on a cooling rack for 15 minutes before removing the pies from their dishes.
- Take a sharp knife and go around edge of the pastry where it connects to the ramekin. Invert the ramekin slightly to the loosen pie, then gently slide out the pie.
- Serve pies warm!
Perfect so easy and tasty! I only used the pastry part of the recipe and it was perfect !
I made this on a whim and it was CRAZY DELICIOUS. Was worried that it would be a bit bland with no spices added (other than what was in the pork sausage) – nope, perfect. This one was a triumph for me, someone who leans much heavier toward baking than cooking. No issues with the hot water crust pastry, couldn’t be easier. I will say that you could easily get away with one butternut squash and 1/2 the cheese and basil called for, I couldn’t fit everything in and used the leftovers for a tasty casserole a couple days later. Thanks for posting! Everyone needs to make this!
Thank you! Sounds divine!