Savory Irish Stout Pies

Ingredients

For the Filling
• 1 lb ground hamburger
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup diced carrot
• Use whatever vegetables you have one hand if you prefer in addition to the ones above
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp dried garlic or 1 bulb fresh garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (12 oz) bottle Guinness
• 
  
For the Pastry Dough
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 4-5 Tbsp cold water
•  
• INSTRUCTIONS
  • Brown hamburger, drain off fat.
  • Add onion, celery and carrot, along with spices. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly until veggies have started to soften.
  • Pour in bottle of Guinness and cook over medium until most of the liquid is gone.
  • Take off heat and let cool slightly before placing in pastry.
  • This recipe will make more than you need.
  • We made about 8 hand pies and had a lot left over.
  • In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-sized.
  • Sprinkle 1 Tbsp water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat, using 1 Tbsp at a time, until all the dough is moistened. Form dough into a ball.
  • Onto a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough. Roll from center to edge. However big you want this is fine, it just needs to make 16 circles total.
  • We used a 5 inch round glass and cut around to form the circles. Make 16 for tops and bottoms of the hand pies.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Place about 1/3 a cup of the beef mixture on a pastry circle.
  • Dab some milk on the bottom edges with a pastry brush. Top with another pastry circle.
  • Press the 2 together and seal with a fork. Make it as pretty as you want!
  • Continue with all of them until you are finished.
  • Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • For browning, you can brush tops with a mixture of 1 egg yolk and a tablespoon of water.
  • Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
  
  

Irish Soda Bread

from Duggar Family Blog
http://duggarsblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/duggar-recipe-irish-soda-bread.html

Traditional Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup white flour (+ a little extra for sprinkling in pan and on top of bread)
3/4 or 1 cup wheat meal*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 egg **

3/4 cup buttermilk (or 3/4 cup milk & 1 TBSP. white vinegar or lemon juice)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Mix dry ingredients with egg, then add 3/4 cup buttermilk (can add a little more if dough is too dry and doesn't "pull away from the sides" easily.) Mix with spoon.  ***

2. Sprinkle flour on top and sides of bread dough in bowl. Sprinkle flour in bottom of pan.****

3. Roll dough from bowl into pan. Use knuckles to gently push bread down. 

4. Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about an inch and a half deep in an "X" shape. The purpose of the scoring is to help the heat get into the center of the dough while it cooks. 

5. Let rise 20 min.  Bake in oven at 425F for about 20-25 minutes. Remove pan or sheet from oven, let bread sit in the pan or on the sheet for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool briefly. 

6. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, or sliced and toasted. Best when eaten warm and just baked. Makes one little loaf. 

*If traditional Irish wheat meal is not available in your region,King Arthur Irish-Style Wholemeal Flour works, as does regular whole wheat or wholegrain flour. To make white Irish soda bread, replace the wheat meal with plain flour.

**Can be made without an egg, but will have to be eaten in the same day.

***If the dough is still really sticky, try adding a bit more flour.  

****Adding a bit of grease to the pan never hurts, especially if you are using a pan that is notorious for sticking. Some bakers prefer to sprinkle their pans with corn meal instead of flour.