Grain and Yeast Free Chicken Pie or Buns

I have been trying to use the dough for an easy grain, nut and yeast free bread to bake all possible varieties of individual buns, and larger size pies with different fillings. One of my favourite savoury filling for buns and pies is a simple mixture of sautéed leek, onions and carrots, with poached chicken and the addition of hard-boiled eggs. In an essence, this filling has the same ingredients as chicken mousse. It is prepared the same way, only without blending cooked ingredients into homogenous mousse or pate, and the addition of grated hard-boiled eggs to increase protein content in the dish, and make it suitable not only for a snack, but a proper meal, if served with a salad or bowl of soup. For the filling, I used both pouched chicken skinless thigh fillets or chicken drumsticks. Fully cooked filling is easier to prepare for 2 bakes of 6 individual buns or one pie. Half of the filling can be frozen for later use.

For the dough I used both seed options from the original recipe – pumpkin seeds and sunflower kernels. For buns I tried the second variety of flaxseed – golden flaxseed, in the form of golden flax flakes. In all of these bakes, there were no noticeable differences in either preparation and baking, or taste and texture of the final product.

The most unusual feature of buns and pies, baked from this recipe is their soft and moist, but not soggy texture, which stays practically the same for 2-3 days. These buns or pie are not going to have completely same texture and feel the next day, but they would never become hard and stale at all. Buns or pieces of pie can be frozen and reheated in the oven or microwave without the loss of taste and texture. But if planned to be consumed within 2 days, I would not recommend to freeze them. With fully cooked filling they do not even need refrigeration (in winter).

Ingredients: 

dough

for 6 smaller buns, baked in 10cm mini-pie foil liners, 4 larger buns, or 1 free shape pie

• 150g apple pieces (Granny Smith apples are the best for this recipe)
• 2 large eggs (104-108g without shells)
• 100g pumpkin seeds (sunflower kernels), ground and sifted
• 50g flax seeds (golden flax flakes)  ground and sifted
• 20g chia seeds, ground and sifted
• 5g (1 tea spoon) baking soda
• 6g (1 tea spoon) salt
• 1 tea spoon cumin powder
• 1 tea spoon garlic and chilli paste (can be substituted for other spices or omitted altogether)
• coconut oil to grease tin liners, or baking paper
• white and black sesame seeds to decorate buns or pie before baking (optional)
• egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with a fork with 2 table spoons of cold water)

chicken, leek, onion, carrot and egg filling

enough for 2 portions of the dough

• 2 chicken skinless thigh fillets, pouched (or cooked meat from 3 large chicken drumsticks), shredded, or cut in medium size pieces
• 3 medium carrots
• 1 large onion
• 1 leek
• 2 table spoons of olive oil
• pinch of fennel seeds
• 2-3 table spoons of chicken broth (from poaching)
• salt and black pepper to taste
• sweet red chilli peppers or red capsicum can be added to vegetable mix
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• fresh herbs, dill, parsley (optional)

Preparation:

prepare the filling first

filling

• wash chicken drumsticks or fillets
• cook chicken with vegetables on medium heat for 60-90min for drumsticks and 30min for fillets
• turn the heat off, cover the pot with lid, let it rest for 30, better 60 min, resting time makes chicken meat very juicy and soft
• heat  2 table spoons of olive oil in a low casserole pan, add fennel seeds
• add leek and onions, fry them for 3-4 min, add salt and pepper and sauté them for several minutes until they become soft

• and carrots, mix vegetables, cover the pan with lid and cook on medium/low heat until carrots become soft
• when (if) vegetable mix becomes dry, add chicken broth to keep the mixture moist
• let cooked vegetables cool down, add shredded chicken meat
• chop, or grate still warm hard-boiled eggs and add them to vegetables and chicken
• add chicken stock (by table spoon) if the filling is too dry

dough

• grind and sift pumpkin seeds, flaxseed and chia seeds
• mix all ground seeds in a wide bowl
• add salt, baking soda (sift if necessary) and cumin powder
• mix all dry ingredients together

• the mixture with golden flax looks a touch lighter (as above)
• peel and core an apple(s)
• dice apple in 1-2 cm pieces
• process them  for 20-30 sec in food processor
• add eggs and garlic and chilli paste, process the mixture on high for 6-7min until pale in colour and nearly triple in volume
• transfer the egg  and apple mixture to a wide bowl
• add dry ingredients to wet ingredients

• combine all ingredients with a whisk
• let the dough stand to 5 min

• line baking tray with baking paper
• grease baking paper (individual mini-pie foil liners) with coconut oil

• wet your hands in cold water, take half of the dough, spread it on greased baking paper
• alternatively spread the dough in individual foil tins or baking dish as seen here
• take some filling, flatten it and place it on the dough, it can be done conveniently in portions

• working with wet hands, cover the filling with the rest of the dough (the dough keeps well together and is very pliable, the excess of the dough in one place can be taken to cover the gaps in the top layer of the pie)
• connect the edges of the top and bottom layers, it is easy to do with a small silicone spatula or wet fingers (working with this dough is like working with soft filler for plaster boards)
• make the surface of the dough even and use egg wash to brush it

• use any seeds to decorate if wanted

• bake in preheated to 170C fan forced oven for 50-60min, 40min for buns
• cool on a wire rack

• I usually return wire rack to switched off, but still warm oven for 3-5 min, if I want the perfect, completely dry bottom

You can cut larger pie to serve when it’s still warm.

Chicken, vegetables and egg pie is a  moist, tasty and nourishing dish. It has a surprising nearly sweet taste, when its dark brown colour conditions you to expect yeasty and sour taste of rye bread. The taste and feel are very similar, if not identical, for both the pie,

and individual buns. However, buns are more convenient and practical option in terms of servings on the go, or take away lunches.

Baked dough, made with golden flax has lighter colour, both inside the bun and the crust itself. But in terms of taste, it goes completely unnoticed. I am sure now, that this recipe of the dough can be used to bake open pies and even pizza, for those who can tolerate cheese. Next bake from this dough would be plain buns to use them for making proper burgers.