Bacon Cheeseburger Pie Recipe

Founder Jenell Parsons from Vancouver-based The Pie Hole shares this mouthwatering recipe from her newest cookbook, You Wanna Piece of Me?

Of all the savoury pies I’ve developed, this one took the longest. It was so important to get the taste and feeling of a cheeseburger in every bite. And it was worth it—this has become one of our top-selling savoury pies. There’s a subtle hint of crunchy dill pickle, smoky crumbled bacon, a squeeze of mustard, lots of sharp cheddar cheese… and let’s not forget the flaky pie crust (adorned with sesame seeds, of course, so you don’t miss the bun)!

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 recipe Double Butter crust (recipe below)

• 1½ lb ground beef

• ½ cup flour

• 3 cups milk

• 2 tbsp mustard, plus additional for topping (optional)

• 1 tbsp salt

• ½ tsp white pepper

• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese

• 2 dill pickles, coarsely diced

• 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

• ¼ cup finely diced onions (optional)

• 1 tsp sesame seeds

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare a double 9-inch or four 5-inch Double Butter Crust(s). Chill the dough (bottom shell(s) in the pie plate(s)) until you’re ready to assemble your pie. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the beef, breaking apart any large clumps. Drain off some of the fat by pouring the cooked beef into a colander. You do not have to be too methodical about shaking the colander, and definitely don’t rinse the beef. If a little fat is left, that is flavour—this is a burger, after all!
3. Sprinkle the flour over the beef and mix it in to coat the meat evenly. It will disappear as it absorbs the beef drippings. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, continuing to stir. We are building the béchamel sauce right into the beef! Add the mustard, salt and white pepper and give it another good stir, then stir in half the grated cheddar cheese and remove from the heat. Keep stirring until the cheese is completely melted, then fold in the pickles. Allow the filling to cool completely to room temperature, or chill in the refrigerator. Tip: You can make the pie up to this step the day before, if you keep the filling in the fridge.
4. Add the beef mixture to the bottom pie shell and smooth it out to have a nice even top. Top with the remaining cheddar cheese, a swirl of mustard just as you would top your burger (use as much or little as you like, depending on how much you love/hate mustard on a burger), crumbled bacon, and onions. Add the top crust and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut four 1-inch slits to vent the pie. Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge or 15 minutes in the freezer before baking.
5. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Transfer the pie to the prepared sheet.
6. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Some of the filling may start to bubble out of the vent holes. Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving, as it will be extremely hot.

Makes one 9-inch double-crust pie (or four 5-inch double-crust pies as show in photo)

The Double Butter Crust

The crust of a pie should never take the back seat and simply be the vessel—a vessel that far too often gets left on the plate while the “good stuff” gets eaten. So I made it my mission to develop the most delicious, buttery, flaky crust possible. We use so much butter in fact that we call our pastry Double Butter crust. And let me tell you, we have all the flavour and all the flakes!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup water, ice cold
• 1 tbsp vinegar, cold
• 2 cups butter, cold
• 4 cups flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• Egg wash (1 egg. Optional splash of milk or water and a pinch of salt)

NOTE: The amount of water mixture you need will vary each time you make the dough. A number of variables contribute to this, including the moisture content in the flour (influenced by how the flour is stored), the warmth of your hands, the time of year, and how hot or cold your kitchen is. You will most likely not use all of the water mixture, but it’s better to have a little too much than not enough. And don’t fret if there is a little extra flour in the bottom of the bowl.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Start by mixing the water and vinegar together in a bowl or jug and putting it into the freezer so it’s icy cold when you need it. Cut the butter into 1-inch cubes and put them in the freezer too to keep as cold as possible while you measure the other ingredients.

To prepare the dough by hand:

1. Measure the flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl and mix to fully incorporate.

2. Add the cold butter to the flour mixture, and use your fingers to massage the butter into the flour, breaking it apart and coating it in flour. Continue massaging and rolling the butter between your fingers until you have a coarse mixture with pea- to almond-sized pieces of butter throughout.

3. Add 3 tbsp of the cold vinegar-water mixture. Slowly mix in the water with your hands, gently squeezing the butter and flour to help it come together.

4. Continue adding the vinegar-water mixture just 1 tbsp at a time, mixing it in gently with your hands. The goal is to add just enough water to get the dough to come together into a shaggy mixture—and once it gets to that point, hands off.

5. Turn to chill the dough

To prepare the dough by food processor:

1. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt until mixed. A few quick pulses should do it. Add the cold butter, a few pieces at a time, pulsing until you have a coarse mixture with pea- to almond-sized pieces of butter throughout. Do not overmix! It’s very easy to overmix, so be careful.

2. Add 3 tbsp of the cold vinegar-water mixture. Pulse a few times. Continue to add vinegar and water, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing a few times between each addition. The goal is to add just enough water to get the dough to come together into a shaggy mixture—and once it gets to that point, no more pulsing (see note)!

3. Transfer to a floured work surface, and carefully fold any loose bits of flour and butter into the ball of dough. Folding it a few times will create layers. Next, read below for how to chill the dough.

NOTE: The more you work the dough, the more the gluten develops, and the tougher your dough becomes, so it’s really important not to overwork it.

To prepare the dough by stand mixer:

1. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and salt on low speed.

2. With the mixer running on low speed, add the cold butter, a few pieces at a time, mixing until you have a coarse mixture with pea- to almond-sized pieces of butter throughout. Do not overmix.

3. With the mixer still running on low speed, add 3 Tbsp of the cold vinegar- water mixture. Continue to add vinegar and water, 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing for 30 seconds between each addition. The goal is to add just enough water to get the dough to come together into a shaggy mixture—and once it gets to that point, stop mixing (see Note)! I find that using a stand mixer takes the most practice and that it is easy to add too much water if you are not patient.

4. Once the dough just comes together, remove it from the mixing bowl, cleaning off the paddle so as not to miss out on any of the delicious buttery dough. Next, read below for how to chill the dough.

Then, chill the dough:

1. Bring your dough together to form a ball, divide it in half, and wrap each piece snugly with plastic wrap. At this point the dough is quite pliable, so press it down until it forms disks about 1 inch thick. This will save both time and effort when you start rolling the dough, as it’s more difficult to roll once chilled. Place the disks in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes to relax the gluten in the dough, which gives you a much more tender pastry. At this point you can also freeze the dough.

Or, for a double-crust pie:

1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 of Rolling the Dough with your second disk of dough. If you are creating a full lid for your top pie crust, try to roll the dough into an even circular shape. If you are preparing the dough for a lattice design try to roll it into more of a rectangular shape to help you cut nice even strips that will fit across the pie without stretching. Keep chilled until you are ready to assemble the pie.
2. Once you have added the pie filling to the bottom crust, use a pastry brush to brush the edges of the crust with egg wash. Make sure to get it into all the nooks and crannies as this helps the top pie crust to adhere to it.
3. Top with the top pie crust and secure the edges by pinching the bottom and top crusts together. Trim off any excess dough and flute the edges.
4. Brush the whole surface with egg wash. Follow the individual pie recipe for baking and serving the pie. Double crust, double yum!

For blind baking:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2. Line the inside of the prepared pie crust with parchment paper to protect the dough. Tip: Large coffee filters can also be used here instead. Add pie weights (see page 8) to keep the pastry in place, and so the heat of the oven doesn’t just melt the pastry into a buttery puddle in the bottom of the pie plate.

3. Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, but keep the oven on. Remove the weights and parchment paper and brush the base of the pie crust with egg wash.

4. For a fully blind-baked pie, return to the oven for 8 to 10 minutes; for a partially blind-baked pie, return to the oven for 3 to 5 minutes. This cooks the additional egg wash and creates a barrier between the filling and the crust to keep the crust from becoming soggy.

NOTE: The dough can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days, or the freezer for up to 3 months. You will likely have extra dough left over from this recipe. gather the scraps together, wrap in plastic wrap, and store in the fridge or freezer.

Makes one 9-inch double crust (or two 9-inch single crusts) 

Excerpted from You Wanna Piece of Me? by Jenell Parsons. Copyright © 2020 The Pie Hole Holdings Corp. Photography by Janis Nicolay. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.