Individual serving hot water crust pies filled with 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 wither ceramic ramekins or these 4-inch deep cake pans with a removable bottom instead of one large pie. So, if this is all new to you, don't worry its much easier than you think.
🌿 Ingredients You Need & Why
- All Purpose Flour:
- All purpose flour has a lower protein percentage than bread flour, so instead of using just one, I mixed them together for a sturdy pastry.
- If you aren't able to use both, I suggest using just all purpose flour instead.
- European Style Unsalted Butter 82% butterfat
- Cultured butter is my preferred choice to make a tender, flaky, buttery crust.
- Go with high quality European brand butter like Plugra, Kerrygold, or President if you can.
- Butternut Squash
- 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 Basil
- The addition of fresh herbs lightens the rich filling for a great flavor. I also love using fresh sage or a mixture of both.
- Sesame Seeds
- Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds onto the egg wash for a little extra crunch to the hot water pie crust.
Tips for Hot Water Crust Pies
- I have not needed to grease my ramekins, but if you feel they will stick, just give a slight coating with lard, 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 '+' in the center of the top of the pastry with a sharp knife before baking, to allow steam to release.
Storing Leftover Pies
Store pies in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days. To warm, place pies on a baking sheet, then bake at 350F (180C) for about 10 minutes or until desired temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
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Hot Water Crust Pies
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Roast Butternut Squash, by slicing squashes in half lengthwise. Scrape out seeds, lightly coat flesh with olive oil and place on baking sheet. Season well with salt and pepper.2 medium sized butternut squashesfine sea saltground black pepper
- Bake at 400℉ (200℃) for about 20 minutes until flesh is tender. Remove from oven.
- Let squash cool for about 15 minutes. Cut flesh away from skin and then cut into small cubes. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a medium skillet on medium-high heat, cook pork sausage until brown. Drain grease and set aside.1 pound (453 grams) spicy pork sausage
- 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 ½ Cups (192 grams) all purpose flour1 Cup (128 grams) bread flour½ teaspoon kosher salt
- In a medium saucepan, bring butter and water to high heat and boil.10.5 tablespoon (150 grams) unsalted butter⅔ 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 ⅛ 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.
- 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, basil, gruyere, sausage, gruyere, and another layer of butternut squash.2 medium sized butternut squashes4 Cups (400 grams) gruyere cheese1 Cup fresh 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 seeds1 large ripened tomato
- Repeat with remaining 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!
Marija Chandler
Thank you! Sounds divine!
Julie G.
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!
Laura
Perfect so easy and tasty! I only used the pastry part of the recipe and it was perfect !