Chicken Pot Pie (Recipe #8)

Chicken Pot Pie
from Allrecipes.com

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Pie Crust Dough
from Grand Central Baking Company

1 lb. or 3 cups Unbleached Flour
2/3 lb. European Style Butter*
2 Tbsp. White Sugar
2 tsp. salt (reduce to 1 t if using salted butter)
¼- ½ c Icy Water

By Hand

Chill high-sided metal or ceramic mixing bowl with flour, sugar and salt in it, in refrigerator for at least 2 hours, overnight is best. With a knife cut cold butter into ¼ to ½ inch chunks. Mix butter into chilled dry ingredients with a pastry blender or with you fingers by rubbing chunks of butter together with flour. When the flour changes from a silky texture to a mealy texture stop mixing. This should only take a couple minutes. It is good for there to be a few big chunks of butter left. Make well in the mixture and drizzle 4-5 Tbs. of icy water into the mixture and combine with a fork. Check dough hydration by pinching a handful; if it sticks together you're ready, if it is too dry to hold together add remaining water. The exact amount of water you will need depends on flour moisture content, whether conditions, and butter quality, so it is very important to check you dough and stop adding water as soon as it will combine into a ball or disk. Form two disks out of dough, wrap in plastic and chill for at least two hours before rolling and forming pie.

With a Mixer

At home I like to use my 5-quart Kitchen Aid Mixer with the paddle attachment for piecrust. Chill bowl with dry ingredients then cut in cubed butter on speed 3 or 4 for about 2 minutes. Once again the goal is for the flour to shift from a silky texture to a mealy texture with some big chunks of butter. Turn mixer to speed 1 and drizzle 4-5 Tbs. of ice water while the paddle is turning. Check hydration, if dough will hold together when you grab a handful you're done adding water, if it is still dry and crumbly add a bit more water. Form dough into two disks, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 2 hours before rolling and forming into pie.