Rhubarb and strawberry hand pies
One in the hand is worth more to me than most large pies.
And these, with their selfishly gratifying individuality, extra crust
ratio and custard-filled pie gap, are the pie-ce de résistance. Pie
gap (glad you asked) occurs when raw fruit collapses dramatically
inside pastry during baking. Pre-cooked fruit minimises the gap
but I think you lose the fruit’s sprightliness. Whatever the gap
size, the post-bake injection of light custard crème turns a spatial
negative into a creamy positive! After baking, the bottom crust
will have absorbed the fruit juices. Don’t worry, it’s not raw.

Think of it as a doughy bridge betwixt crust and filling.

If you don’t have time to make Yoghurt rough puff, buy a
top-shelf frozen butter puff pastry. Steer clear of doughs that
are more cookie like, as they can slump during baking, and
I’d very much like you NOT to do the same.

Bring the chilled Yoghurt rough puff pastry to a cool and pliable
temperature – around 10 minutes at room temperature. On a lightly
flour-dusted work surface, halve the dough and roll each portion into
a long sheet 45 cm × 15 cm (17½ in × 6 in).

A top tip is to roll the length first, then work on rolling the width to target.
If the dough is tough to roll, give it 5-minute chilled rests during the rolling.

The dough should be 3 mm (⅛ in) thick. With a ruler and sharp knife
(or pastry/pizza wheel cutter), trim the edges and cut each dough
sheet into three squares: 15 cm × 15 cm (6 in × 6 in). Lay the six
squares on a tray (separate with baking paper if you need to stack)
and cover with a dry tea towel (dish towel). Chill for 15 minutes.

Keeps Best eaten on day of baking.

Baked but unfilled with custard cream,
keep airtight and chilled (5 days) or
frozen (3 months). Reheat in a 170°C
(340°F) oven for 10 minutes until hot to
touch. Cool before piping custard cream
in. Not great to bake from raw/frozen.

Makes 6 handsome hand pies.

Takes With the dough made, 3 hours

to roll, fill, chill, bake and pipe custard.
1 × batch Yoghurt rough puff
pastry (page 74)
1 small 500 g-ish (1 lb 2 oz)
bunch rhubarb (220 g/8 oz
prepped weight)
125 g (4½ oz) fresh strawberries
50 g (1¾ oz) unsalted butter
45 g (1½ oz) light brown sugar
30 g (1 oz) cornflour
(cornstarch)
finely grated zest of 1 orange or
lemon
1 g (¹⁄₃₂oz/¼ teaspoon) sea salt
flakes
cooking oil spray
Egg wash
20 g (¾ oz) egg yolk (from
approx. 1 egg)
1 g (¹⁄₃₂oz/⅛ teaspoon) fine
sea salt
To finish
20 g (¾ oz) demerara (or raw)
sugar
1 × batch of Whipped custard
crème (page 249)