Mini Pizza Pie

I'm happy because all that my family planned to do over the long weekend materialized. We saw the Titanic Artifact Exhibition at the ArtScience Museum on Saturday. On Sunday,  I was busy preparing for the next day's gathering & on Monday, we spent the whole day at Pasir Ris Park with my husband's family.

We volunteered to prepare Nasi Lemak (with sambal sotong, of course) & drinks. I also wanted to bake a type of savoury finger food, something simple & something the kids & adults love to eat. I came up with my version of  Mini Pizza Pie. Nothing new or spectacular, just a mini pizza with pastry crust instead of bread base. Still, the pie was a hit at the gathering. 

Just some notes on the making of the pies before I leave you with the recipe. Firstly, I used both butter & vegetable shortening for the pastry in the ratio of 3:1. Butter is for the flavour while the shortening produces a flaky crust. I read this tip from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. You can use all butter but your crust will be crispy but not flaky. Another thing, although this recipe uses cold water, I didn't use it at all because my dough was already soft before I added the water. So it's a good practice to add any liquid a little bit at a time when mixing any dough. Finally, make sure all ingredients are cold, especially if you are leaving in a hot country like Singapore.  I even kept the flour in the freezer for few hours!

Mini Pizza Pie

Crust (recipe adapted from 500 Pies & Tarts by Rebecca Baugniet):

280g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

110g vegetable shortening ( I used Crisco. I weighed & froze it  for few hours.)

230g cold unsalted butter (I cut into small chunks & froze them.)

1 large egg

2 tsp vinegar

2 tbsp cold water (I didn't use at all since my dough was already soft.)

1. Combine flour & salt in a large mixing bowl. Add cut butter & shortening to flour mixture. 
2. Using a pastry blender or two knives in a criss-crossing motion, blend butter & shortening into flour mixture until it  has consistency of damp sand, with a few pea-sized pieces of butter & shortening remaining. (I rubbed in fat into flour using my fingers.)
3. Beat egg & vinegar. Slowly pour egg mixture over the flour, mixing only until mixture is moist. Add water only if dough is not moist enough. The dough should stick together & be able to hold the form of a ball.
4. Place dough between two pieces of plastic. Smooth dough with a rolling pin so it forms a flat disc of about 1 cm thick. Chill in refrigerator for a minimum of half an hour. Remove from fridge & roll out dough to about 3mm thick. 
5. Using a round cutter, cut out circles of pastry. Gently push dough into  moulds. 
6. Bake blind for about 15 minutes or untill pastry is slightly golden in colour. Remove from oven.
7. Pour about 1 tsp of  sauce into baked shell, followed by meat filling. Then sprinkle grated cheese.
8. Bake again for about 15 minutes.

Sauce:

spaghetti sauce (I used sauce in a can.)

Filling:

400g ground beef

white pepper

Italian mixed spice

salt

Combine all ingredients & cook until the beef is cooked & is almost dry.

Topping:

Mozarella cheese (grated)