pies & sausage rolls
Without a doubt the pies and sausage rolls at Bourke Street Bakery have a special place in our hearts — we take them very seriously! A bad pie is just un-Australian.
To make a good pie you have to get a few things right. Firstly and most importantly, the filling should be saucy, without presenting a danger to your tie and shirt, and the meat should be tender and succulent. The next most important aspect is the pastry base. Providing all the structure, the savoury shortcrust pastry should be firm enough so that you can hold and eat the pie with one hand. The base should be no thicker than a few millimetres or it will impinge on the filling that is rightfully yours.
These days, most pies are made with pastry margarine, which acts as a solidifying agent to keep the base firm, but it also leaves you with a nasty film on the roof of your mouth. Butter is better. At Bourke Street we have been through a few shortcrust variations to find the perfect balancing act of butter and flour — the more butter you put in the recipe the limper the base will be. Lastly, we top our pies with puff pastry. Most bakeries just use the same pastry for the whole pie and no doubt that would be easier. But we found that another texture of pastry really enhances the whole pie-eating experience, especially when it is crisp flaky puff pastry that melts in your mouth.
An option for those who live in the fast lane and don’t have the time to devote to making two pastries, is to make the filling and spoon it directly into a baking dish. Brush or spray the sides of the dish with olive oil, then top it with the pastry of your choice (usually puff pastry). Brush the pastry lid with egg wash and poke a whole in the centre of the lid to allow steam to escape. Pop it into a preheated 220°C (425°F/Gas 7) oven, reduce the temperature to 190°C (375°F/Gas 5) before cooking and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
And then there’s the sausage roll. At Bourke Street we believe that the sausage roll has been overlooked for too long. Long, proud and full of meat, the sausage roll has somehow slipped into being less than it should be — less meat and more breadcrumbs. Growing up in Australia, one of the great cultural food debates in all walks of life was what actually went into sausage rolls and pies.
Sold by the school or sportsground canteen and supplied by large food corporations, sausage rolls lost the ability to be pure and tasty, which is hard to comprehend. Flavoured meat wrapped in puff pastry is not hard to make and is very moreish. We follow a few simple steps; we use quality meat from a premium butcher, fresh flavourings and great puff pastry. Rolling these savoury pastries by hand also helps.