The pasty is a delicious meat pie that can be picked up and eaten with your hands. Pasties are a known thing to people around here in the upper Midwest. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan the pasty is as popular as ever. In any case, it’s a really easy way to get all the meat and veggies in one place. A favorite of my husbands, the pasty can be as versatile as any filling you’d like to add. For this recipe, we’re sticking to more of the traditional flavors.
History of the Pasty
Tradition has it that the pasty originated in Cornwall, England… if you’ve heard of the Cornish Pasty. It was a Medieval food (like many meat pies) that started as a food for the rich and became food for the common peasant (person) as the centuries went on. As immigration increased in the U.S., many different regions adopted different variations of the pasty and claim the origins for their own. We love finding out about the history of a food before trying it and love even more being able to experiment with different flavors. Making things of the past suit our present, modern times is so fun for our family.
What’s in this pasty??
The pasty consists of two main steps: the crust and the filling.
This crust recipe uses freshly milled sourdough with butter. You can use whole wheat flour as a substitute for freshly milled and lard as a substitute for butter. The filling consists of ground beef, classic stew veggies, herbs, salt, and pepper. There is more detail below in the filling instructions.
Let’s make the crust
You’ll need:
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup active sourdough starter
- 6-6 1/2 cups freshly milled flour- I recommend hard, red, winter wheat
- 4 tsp salt
- 1 stick of butter- softened
Instructions: First, add all ingredients into your mixing bowl. You can use a stand or handheld mixer with dough hooks. Make sure all ingredients are combining well if you have a stand mixer. They tend to get stuck on the sides and the bottom of the bowl and end up not getting incorporated.
Second, stretch and fold the dough (as pictured above) at least twice before letting it sit for the long fermentation.
Next, set your dough in a warm place to ferment. If it’s really warm (I put mine on our nice, warm radiator) it might take less time. Typically you should let it sit at least 8-12 hours.
Example schedules:
#1
Tuesday 6pm- mix dough, cover, and let sit on the counter overnight
Wednesday 6am- put dough in fridge
Wednesday 4:30pm- begin making pasties
#2
Monday 5am- mix dough, cover, and let sit on counter
Monday 4:30pm- begin making pasties
Let’s make the filling
The filling ingredients are:
- 2 pounds ground beef
- beef seasoning: 1tsp salt, 1tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 med/large yellow onion
- 3 large carrots
- 3 large celery
- 1 large green cabbage
- 7 medium red potatoes
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp pepper
- 4 Tbl butter or lard
- 1 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp basil
- 1 1/2 tsp rosemary
First, cut all the veggies as pictured below.
Second, in a large skillet cook the ground beef and add the beef seasoning. At the same time on medium heat warm a (separate) pot (either a stew pot or big dutch oven) and add the butter or lard. Let it heat a moment and add all the veggies.
When the cabbage is soft and translucent, turn the veggies off. Add the beef to the pot and mix. Now, it’s ready to be scooped once the dough is rolled out.
Putting together your pasties
Preheat your oven to 400F.
Cut your dough into 15 equal pieces.
Rolling the dough: What I’ve found works best is using a cutting board to make the pasty and then sliding it onto the baking tray.
Flour the cutting board or use corn meal. Roll out the dough into about a 6″ diameter circle. Place the pasty filling on one half of the dough, leaving about 1/2 in. on the edge. Fold over the pasty like pictured below.
Seal the edges either by pinching or with a fork:
Slide the pasties onto the baking tray. When the tray is filled, cook the pasties for 20 to 25 minutes.
Now that the pasties are done rub butter on them. It makes them oh so delicious!
These would taste absolutely delicious with a glass of homemade beer.
You can find a tutorial on Norse farmhouse ale here:
Enjoy your pasty!
~Emily
Pasties
delicious meat pies with beef and veggies inside
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 1/2 C Water
- 1 C Active Sourdough Starter
- 6-6 1/2 C freshly milled flour
- 8 Tbl Butter
- 4 tsp Salt
Filling
- 3 large carrots
- 3 large celery stalks
- 1 yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 green cabbage
- 7 medium red potatoes
- 4 Tbs butter
- salt
- 1/4 C dry red wine (optional)
- 1 tsp of each basil, oregano, rosemary
- for the beef: 1 tsp of each salt, onion powder, garlic powder
Instructions
- For the Dough:
- Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix for 5- 10 min in a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer. Make sure you use a spatula to get the ingredients off the sides and bottom of the bowl. The dough tends to stick
- stretch and fold dough at least twice
- let dough ferment for 8-12 hours at room temp
- For the filling:
- preheat oven to 400F
- add the ground beef into a skillet and cook until done. add the salt, onion powder, garlic powder and optional 1/4 c dry red wine
- while the meat is cooking, chop all veggies into small pieces
- in another pot add butter and veggies, let them cook until the cabbage is getting soft and translucent
- add the cooked beef to the pot and mix thoroughly
- Assembling the pasties
- cut the dough into 15 equal pieces
- roll each piece into a 6 in diameter circle- works best on a floured cutting board
- fill half the circle with filling leaving 1/2 in on the edge
- fold the dough over the filling and seal the edges either with a fork or by pinching
- slide pasty onto a baking tray
- once tray is full bake pasties for 20-25 min
sources
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