For some people it’s a Bing Crosby record or the smell of a freshly cut pine tree, but for me, Christmas has always been our meat pie.
2 1/2 pounds of stewing beef, cut into chunks- 1 1/2 pounds of pork roast, cut into chunks.
- 1 medium onion chopped fine
- 2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning (adjust to taste)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 bay leaves
- kosher salt
- fresh ground pepper
Place meat and spices into a pot with water and simmer in medium high heat, until meat is falling apart. This takes several hours. Add additional water when needed, do not let it boil dry. Remove bay leaves. Salt and pepper to taste, more poultry seasoning if needed.
Then, you’ll need a recipe for two loaves of white bread. You can do this by hand. I do it in my Cuisinart.
White Bread
- 1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 5 cups white flour
- 4 tablespoons butter (cut into tablespoon sized pieces)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/3 cups ice water
Stir yeast and sugar into warm water in a 2 cup measure and let it stand until foamy, 3 to 5 minutes. Use dough blade to process flour, butter and salt for 20 seconds. Add ice water to yeast mixture.
With machine running, pour liquid through the feed tube in steady stream, only as fast as the flour absorbs it. Continue processing until dough cleans inside of work bowl and forms a ball. The let machine run for 60 seconds to knead dough.
Shape dough into a ball and place it in a lightly floured plastic storage bag. Squeeze out air and close end with wire twist. allowing space for dough to rise. Let rise in a warm place until dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour, to an hour and a half.
Punch dough down, on a lightly floured surface, take 2/3 of the dough and roll out until it’s big enough to fit in an 9″ x 13″ greased pan and up over the sides. Fill with cooled meat mixture. Roll out remaining dough, cover, fold under bottom crust and pinch together. Cut five slits in top crust to let steam escape. Bake at 350º for one hour.
