Daring Bakers challenge: chicken pot pie

This month’s Daring Bakers challenge is from Hannah from Rise and Shine, and wow is it a challenge!  Chicken pot pie is one of my favorite comfort foods, but I only make it once or twice a year.  You need to clear most of your day to make this and every dish in the house. There are 21 ingredients in the list.  There is dough to make, there is chopping, and then more chopping, cooking the filling and then, finally!, you can put it in the oven for close to an hour.  But it is so worth the effort if you do.  Creamy, savory chicken and vegetables baked in a flaky pie crust.  Clear your afternoon, put on some elastic waist pants and get to work.  In about 4 hours you will have a masterpiece of savory decadence that’s almost impossible to stop eating.  If you have extra filling like I did, save it for another day and whip up some quick biscuits to go with it.

ingredients for crust:

• 3 & 1/2 c. (420 g.) flour
• 1 tbl. brown sugar, packed
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 c. shortening, cold and cut into 4 pieces
• 3/4 c. (12 tbl.) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled
• 1 c. ice water

ingredients for filling

• 2 tbl. vegetable oil
• 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 tbl. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 c. flour
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 2 tbl. white wine (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 3 c. cooked chicken (about 2 large breasts), chopped
• 1 c. frozen peas, not thawed

Put flour, sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse 4-5 times to combine.

Place butter and shortening evenly on top of flour mixture.

Pulse until butter and shortening are the size of peas, about 10 times.

  Turn mixture into a large bowl.  Sprinkle 8 tbl. of ice water on top.  Use a rubber spatula to press and mix together.  Add ice water, 1 tbl. at a time, and press mix until dough comes together.

Knead a few times with your hands until dough forms a ball.  Try not to touch it too much with your hands or your butter will soften!  You want the peas sized pieces of butter to stay cold. When you bake the crust they will form steam.  That is what gives you a flaky crust.

Divide dough into 2 pieces, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into a disk.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

  When your dough is ready, move your oven rack to the bottom third of the oven and preheat your oven to 400°.

  Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add carrots and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.  Add onions, celery and salt and cook until tender, about 5 more minutes.  Take off heat and set aside.

In a small bowl, make thick paste by mixing the butter and flour with a fork.

Heat the chicken stock in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add the flour/butter paste to the stock and whisk vigorously until it comes to a simmer.  Simmer until mixture becomes thick like honey.  Take off heat and whisk in wine, thyme and black pepper (it was at this step that I realized I forgot the thyme in the ingredient picture.  Sorry).

Add the chicken, cooked vegetables and peas to the sauce and stir together.  Set aside.

Flour your countertop and rolling pin and roll out one of your chilled dough disks to about 1/2″ thick.  Carefully roll it around your rolling pin and place into your baking dish or pie pan.

Carefully fit your dough into the inside of your pan.  Try not to stretch your dough.

Add your filling.  I decided to use a baking dish that has the same capacity as a pie pan and had some filling left over.  If I had used a deep dish pie pan it would have all fit.

Roll out your second chilled dough disk, roll it onto your rolling in pin and lay it across the top of your pie.  Trim the edges to 1″ past the rim of your dish.

Fold the top crust under the bottom and pinch your edges together.

Cut vents in the top of your pie crust, place dish onto a baking sheet (to help ensure the bottom crust cooks) and bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until the top turns golden brown.  If the top is browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack rack then eat with abandon.