Peach hand pies with bourbon

Peach & Bourbon Hand Pies with Rough Puff Pastry

Rough Puff Pastry is so versatile that it should be used in everyone’s kitchen. These easy Peach and Bourbon Hand Pies made in rough puff pastry, also called cheat’s pastry or flaky pastry, are flaky, buttery, and full of fresh peach flavor!

The challenge for the Home Baker’s Collective this month was set by Alex from https://alexwillisbakes.com/ and it was no surprise that he chose Lamination!

I will be honest, I was super busy this week and almost didn’t find time to participate in the challenge.

That is why I chose Rough Puff Pastry! Faster and easier than full puff pastry but just as flaky and buttery!

The filling happened because my husband brought some home from the store so, the Peach & Bourbon Hand Pie with Rough Puff Pastry was born!

Peach pies with flaky pastry

What is the difference between Rough Puff and Puff Pastry?

Rough puff pastry is made using small bits of butter, folded into dough several times to create layers while full puff pastry is made by folding a slab of butter into the dough and then folding and chilling several times.

I prefer to grate my butter when I make rough puff after it is frozen and fold that into the dough.

Keeping the dough and butter cold is essential when making any type of laminated dough. Hot hands melt butter! So you should touch it as little as possible!

By grating the butter, it allows the process of folding the dough around the butter to happen quickly and without much touching.

I had never made rough puff pastry before the preparation phase of my time on the Great American Baking Show. One of our challenges required us to use Rough Puff.

I will admit, I didn’t believe that I could get the layers of full puff.

Boy, was I wrong!

In preparation for the challenge, I checked out the rough puff recipe by Paul Hollywood since he was the one that would be judging me on it! It made sense that we would have to make it because every season of GBBO has at least one rough puff challenge.

I made it once and was AMAZED at the ease and flakiness! I’m hooked on rough puff!

Easy Rough puff pastry is so flaky and so easy to make

Rough Puff Pastry Ideas

The possibilities with Rough Puff Pastry are endless. It can be used for both sweet and savory dishes.

You can make Cornish Pasties, Danishes, Mille Feuille, Mince Pies and Sausage Rolls. Use this pastry to make hand pies or top your Chicken Pot Pie or Steak & Ale Pie.

Make a large batch of Rough Puff Pastry and freeze it! Even though this pastry is super simple to make, you can make your prep time for tonight’s dinner even quicker.

To freeze rough puff pastry, just wrap it cling film and then place in a ziploc freezer bag. This pastry can be frozen for up to 4 months!

Why didn’t my Rough Puff rise?

There are usually two reasons that rough puff or even full puff pastry doesn’t rise.

The first reason is that the butter is not cold enough.

If the butter is cold, the high heat from the oven will cause it to evaporate quickly which creates a gas. This helps the layers to rise giving you flaky pastry.

If the butter is warm, it will melt and be absorbed into the dough. The layers won’t rise and you will be left with a buttery, bread-like texture.

So keep that butter COLD!

The second reason that your rough puff didn’t rise is that the oven wasn’t hot enough.

When baking rough puff pastry, the oven temperature should be at least 400℉/205C. This allows the creation of steam that is needed to make the layers and allow the pastry to rise.

The temperature can vary based mostly on your fillings and use of the pastry. When making Mille Feuille, caramelization is as important as lamination so the pastry is covered with powdered sugar and normally baked at 425℉.

When making sausage rolls, pasties or mince pies, a temperature of 400℉ is usually used in order to cook the meat to the correct temperature without overcooking the pastry.

Scaling this pastry recipe

It is so easy to scale this recipe to make the amount of pastry that you need. The flour to fat ratio in rough puff pastry is 3:2. So if you use 150 grams of flour, you should use 100 grams of fat. The fat can be all butter or, for more savory bakes, you can use half butter and half lard if desired.

To make larger batches, just maintain the ratio and you can make enough to freeze for later without having to make multiple batches.

Hand Pie Fillings

Peach season is my favorite!

I love seeing fresh peaches in the grocery store or at the farmer’s market. During my third pregnancy, I craved peaches the entire time. Fresh peaches, peach yogurt, peach cobbler, peach pie…I just had to have peaches!

My love of peaches didn’t end when my youngest son was born. But I can’t always get fresh ones living in the Midwest.

So when I see fresh peaches, I grab them. And I mean A LOT of them!

I had no idea what I was going to make for this months’ Home Bakers Collective Challenge. I didn’t even think that I would have time to join in.

But the combination of quick rough puff pastry and a bag of fresh peaches made the challenge doable.

I am so glad that I decided to throw these together and share this recipe.

I think this proves that you don’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen to make flaky pastry and fill it with something amazing!

What is your favorite filling in a hand pie? Are you a fan of sweet or savory? Let me know if the comments below!

Peach Hand Pies made with flaky pastry

If you like pie, try my Paradise Pie with pineapple and coconut cream cheese filling!

French Silk Pie is always a winner!

Peach & Bourbon Hand Pies with Rough Puff Pastry

Recipe by Tanya Ott
Servings

8

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

  • For the Rough Puff Pastry
  • 450 grams bread flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 75 grams unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

  • 180 grams unsalted butter, frozen and grated

  • Up to 3/4 cup ice cold water

  • Peach & Bourbon Filling
  • About 5 cups water, brought to a boil

  • Large bowl full of ice water

  • 6 to 7 medium peaches

  • 100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1 Tablespoon cool water

  • 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

  • 2 to 3 Tablespoon Bourbon

  • 1 egg, for wash

  • Glaze
  • 220 grams (1 cup) powdered sugar

  • 2 to 3 Tablespoons milk or water

Directions

  • Make the pastry
  • First, grate the 180 grams butter and put back into the freezer.
  • Put flour and salt into a large bowl and stir to combine.
  • Rub in the 75 grams of cubed butter.
  • Gradually add water and stir with hands until dough forms.
  • Knead a few times on a flour counter top to bring the dough together.
  • Roll out dough to a 10 inch x 15 inch rectangle on a well floured counter top.
  • Sprinkle frozen, grated butter over 2/3 of the rectangle. Fold bottom third up and then top third down.
  • Seal edges and roll out to a 10 inch by 15 inch rectangle again. Fold in thirds, like a letter. Wrap in cling film and freeze for 10 minutes.
  • Remove dough from freezer and roll out again to 10 inch x 15 inch rectangle. Fold in thirds again, seal edges, wrap and refrigerate until ready to fill.
  • Make the Peach Filling
  • Cut an ‘X’ in to the bottom of each peach. Carefully drop the peaches, one at a time, into the boiling water for about 15 to 20 seconds. When the skin begins to loosen and curl back around the ‘x’, remove the peaches from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and immediately put in to the ice cold water. Continue this process with all of the peaches.
  • When the peaches are cool enough to handle, remove from the ice water and peel back the skins. They should remove easily and this method ensures that you won’t waste any of the flesh of the fruit!
  • Remove the peach pits and chop into pieces no larger than 1 inch x 1 inch. Place peaches in a medium bowl, add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine then put into a colander or mesh strainer and set over the bowl. Allow the juice to drain out for up to 1 hour.
  • Pour the juices from the peaches into a saucepan. Heat over lo-med heat and reduce for 10 to 15 minutes. Then mix the cool water and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir to combine. Pour cornstarch mixture into reduced juice mixture, stirring constantly until smooth. Heat to a light boil and maintain a boil for 1 to 2 minutes, until thickened.
  • Add the Bourbon to the saucepan and cook for 1 minute.
  • Pour thickened mixture over peaches, stir to combine and allow to cool.
  • Once the Peach Filling is made and cooled, roll out dough to a 10×18 inch rectangle and cut into rectangles about 2.5×5 inches. The size doesn’t have to be exact, just make sure that they are all the same size. You could also cut circles with a cookie or biscuit cutter.
  • Spoon filling on top of half of the pastry pieces. In a small bowl, beat the egg and use it to brush the edges of each of the bottom pieces.
  • Place a top piece of pastry on top of the bottoms, stretching slightly to fit over the filling. Press the edges to seal and then press fork along all of the edges.
  • Cut a small slit or two in the top of each hand pie. Brush the tops with egg wash. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. You can also freeze at this point. To freeze for later baking, place in the freezer until solid, wrap individually in cling wrap, place in a zipper freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
  • While the pies are chilling, preheat oven to 400F/205C. Bake for 18-24 minutes or until browned and cooked through.
  • Glaze
  • Make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar and milk or water until smooth. Add more liquid if needed to make a glaze that is thin enough to brush on the pies.
  • When the hand pies are cool, brush the top with the glaze.

2 Comments

  1. Great write-up, Tanya! I also made rough puff for the first time for that preparation and like you, I was quite amazed at the level of puffiness (is that a thing?)

    I also loved your photo with the black board. Clever!

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