pocket pies
 

Several weeks ago I was watching the Food Network and saw the "Good Eats" show by my hero Alton Brown called "A pie in every pocket" which sent me on a mission to make a LC pocket pie. Not intending to mess with his technique, I followed his directions for making the pies exactly. The only thing I changed were the ingredients of the dough to make it LC.

It is also not my intent to suggest the filling for these pie which can range from sweet to savory.

With that said, here is the link to his original recipe: Alton Brown's Pocket Pies

And this is my version of it:

1 1/2 cups Carbalose flour
1/2 cup resistant wheat starch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons shortening
6 tablespoons half/half
1 egg mixed with 1 to 2 teaspoons water


In the mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the shortening and knead it into the flour with your hands until it is crumbly. Add the milk all at once and mix in with a spatula until it begins to come together.

Lightly flour your hands and the countertop and turn the dough out onto the countertop. Knead the dough ball, folding over 10 to 20 times.

Using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/3 to 1/2-inch thickness, then cut into rounds using a 2 1/4-inch ring.
Roll each round as thinly as possible or to 5 to 6 inches in diameter.
Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling onto the dough, brush the edges of half of the dough lightly with the egg wash, fold over and seal the edges together with the tines of a fork, dipping it into flour as needed. Gently press down to flatten and evenly distribute the filling and snip or cut 3 slits in the top of the pie.

To bake pies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place finished pies onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.


Your imagination is the only limit here.
I got 10 pocket crusts at 4 carbs each plus whatever filling you use.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...pocketpie6.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...pocketpie7.jpg

Ok once you get your dough to a workable state, roll it out to about 1/8 inch thick and cutout 4 1/2 in. diameter circles with a floured thin edge of a bowl.

Then make your pocket pie like you would a filled raisin cookie. Put 1 circle on the cookie sheet putting the filling in the middle and brush a 1/2 in around the outside edge with the egg wash. Place another circle on top and press together where the egg wash is. Then crimp completely around the outside edge with the tip of a fork. Cut 3 slits in the top and bake per recipe

Actually these could be made large or small which ever you like.

I took the excess dough and wrapped it in plastic and fridged it till the first batch was done then rolled out and made more.

Hope this helps until you get used to working with the dough.

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...inpa1/pp31.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...inpa1/pp32.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...inpa1/pp35.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...inpa1/pp36.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...inpa1/pp38.jpg

After I took a big bite :up: :laugh:

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...inpa1/pp40.jpg

Those look great! AB's show is one of my favorites. I love that he gets into the science behind cooking:)

Kevin, Scott, whoever, you use resistant wheat starch, and a place with xxxxxxxxxxxx has a product called just wheat starch, with absolutely no nutritional info, but it is cheap, would it be the same thing?

my guess is no

These look so yummy!!!! Although I'm thinking pizza inside for a quick lunch. Do you think that would work? I wonder if they would freeze well?
Renae

As a matter of fact Renae, Alton suggested that on his show using some cheese, sauce, and pepperoni. Also , sealed well I see no reason why these could not be frozen. The crust is nice and flakey so I would think if you did freeze them that when reheating them you would want to use the oven or toaster oven.

Kevin-- You Rock! I've never worked with carbalose flour because it's kind of carby, but once I get to maintenance I will so try this srecipe. It looks fantastic!

Can I replace the resistant wheat starch with something else?
I have:
soy flour
WPI 500 and 800
Carbalose and Carbquik
gluten flour

Dude, you are my hero!
 

Can't wait to try these. The Netrition order grows...

In Upper Michigan, the favorite 'food' is Pasties. It is a pastry filled with meat, turnips, rutabagas, carrots, whatever. Very tasty. Sometimes served with gravy. They were what the miners took in their lunch box to work to eat, many times leftovers from the night before put into the crust. They look very much like what you have made.
I have never made them but when we were up there in September, I had to eat one, or maybe that was two!!!!
This might be something worth trying in the near future.
Thanks for the recipe,
Bette

Has anyone tried these as a top crust for a chicken pot pie? I love the fact that they are flakey. I miss the top crust for my chicken and beef pot pies. Thanks Kevin, as always you continue to amaze me with your talent in the L/C kitchen:up:

Looks delicious. Definitely on my to-do list. Thanks Kevin.

These pocket pies are EXCELLENT!

I'd like to hear ideas of what all of you have filled these with when you made them?

And can you make them fill them, nake them and freeze them? as in, do they reheat well?

I hope to make some soon with sf cherry pie filling. I love cherry pie! :love:
I think I'll freeze them unbaked, though. I used to freeze all kinds of unbaked pies in my high-carb past. You don't even have to defrost them before you bake them, but you do need to watch so the crust doesn't burn before the filling is fully heated. Yummy! Just thinking about them makes me hungry! :D

Cherry ones sound good! That sounds yummy! (Puts SF cherry pie filling on list)

Come to think of it I've only seen low sugar cherry pie filling in stores. Is there brand in regular grocery stores that is sugar free?

Or is there a way to make your own using sweetner and cherries, maybe Da Vinci SF vanilla? How would you thicken it?


It woud be better to freeze them before baking. I dont know why I didnt think of that!


Has anyone tried filling them with a pot pie type filling?

Or a calzone type filling?

Ham and cheese? Maybe something like a Hot pocket?

Yummy, there are several brands of no sugar added lite pie filling. The two that come to mind that I have seen is Lucky Leaf and Walmart brand. They both have cherry and apple and for 1/3 cup it is about 6 to 7 carbs. I am going to guess that you could get 2 or 3 pies out of that amount. Netrition also sells no sugar added Steel's peach pie filling and it is only 4 carb for 1/3 cup.

Those look absolutely fabulous and doable! Thanks, Kevin! I'll try this for pizza pockets and make my son regular ones.

I love AB also, he's my hero. As Dottie said, love that he explains the science of recipes. Plus, he's cute as a button :D

Thanks Kevin! I didnt see any the last time I went to my usual grocery store. But I am at Super Walmart, so I'll lok there!

Thanks again! I cant wait to make these!

I feel like I should add a few things about these. When I first converted this recipe, I had to try several time before I got he dough right and even then until I got the hang of folding the pockets I had my share of blowouts. Not that they didnt taste good.....they just were not pretty:eek: .

Anyway one of the keys is to get a workable pastry dough, which means the half /half in this recipe may vary for you. If the 6 T. leaves your dough dry and crumbly, add more a T. at a time until it feels workable.
I have used from 6 T. all the way up to what Alton's recipe uses 3/4 c.

I am making some right now and will have an easier way to asemble these to show you shortly.

I'm waiting patiently for the new info! And thanks for the dough tip!

I use to make fried apple pies. I wonder if this dough would hold up to frying (I have had some dough just fall apart when you try to fry it). I notice Alton's recipe said you could fry them but LC flour might not act the same.

Yum!
One of these days I am going to try these....meal pies and dessert ones.
Thanks for the recipe, Kevin.
Bette

I used taco meat and cheese.

How's this for a DUH! moment? My printer is out of ink, so I jotted down the ingredients on paper. I mixed them up right, but I added the egg to the dough instead of keeping it separate for brushing. It turned out OK I guess, but it was a little puffier than I liked and was too doughy for the amount of filling I was able to add. I will try this again with the RIGHT ingredients. My family ate them so I think they would like them even better if I made them right.

Kevin, have you tried drizzling an icing over them....like a pastry tart? What would be your suggestion for a good icing. I have some SF apple pie filling I would love to try with these. And I'm looking forward to using it for Individaul pot pies. I actually have some small tins I will try this with!! Thanks so much!:up:

When I want a drizzle I make my erythritol icing and then thin it until it drizzles.

im getting fatter just looking at this and im on induction! It will be a couple of weeks before i'm bold enough to make bread and things (i dont follow the book perfectly,. just do induction and then keep it low from there)

but my gosh, im jonesing for your yummys!

I made these as fried pies and they turned out perfectly and delicious. Really easy too. I only made 1/2 recipe so we wouldn't be too tempted since there's only two of us. I used Hood milk as the liquid and made 5 fried apple turnovers (added cinnamon to the SF pie filling). DH said they were as good as any he'd ever eaten. Thanks for the recipe.

do you know the carb count on the filling by any chance? and can you tell me what brand it was...thanks!

bella the kind I have used was "Thank You" brand no sugar added. They have cherry and apple. The cherry is 7 carbs per 1/3 cup and the apple is 6 carbs per 1/3 cup. Walmart also has a knockoff brand of these at the same carb count. I also bought Steel's peach pie filling at 4 carbs per 1/3 cup but have not tried it yet.