Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie In A Pan

Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups milk, hot to the touch
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon tarragon
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper (or more)
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 4 cups cooked chicken breasts, cubed
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (from cooking chicken meat)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled, sliced
• 4 celery ribs, chopped
• canned mushroom (optional)
• fresh mushrooms (optional)
• thyme (optional)
• rosemary (optional)
• curry (optional)
• peas (optional)
• broccoli (optional)
• mixed vegetables (cooked) (optional)
• potato (optional)
• turnip (cooked) (optional)
• 3 tablespoons chicken fat
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups cream, half-n-half or 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon water

Recipe

• 1 for the crust.
• 2 place all ingredients in your bread-maker (according to manufacturer's directions, mine go in "liquid first"); program for "dough" or "manual" then press "start.".
• 3 the dough will be very sticky at first (like biscuit dough); it will firm up by the end of the kneading time.
• 4 while the dough is kneading, prepare the filling.
• 5 for the filling.
• 6 cook chicken breasts in your normal way (i use water & cooking sherry), reserve broth and separate fat if you can (used in the gravy).
• 7 melt butter in hot pan, saute onion & carrots until lightly browned, add celery, saute until limp-ish.
• 8 dump veggies and chicken into large bowl.
• 9 for the gravy.
• 10 melt butter and fat (use all butter if you didn't separate the fat from the broth) in same pan (as veggies), whisk in the flour.
• 11 s-l-o-w-l-y add the reserved broth, continually whisking out the lumps.
• 12 whisk in the cream and s & p.
• 13 turn off the heat, stir in meat & veggies.
• 14 for the glaze:.
• 15 in a small bowl, mix egg and water, beating to a frothy mess; set aside.
• 16 assembly.
• 17 lightly spray or butter a 13x9 pan; pour chicken/gravy mixture into this dish.
• 18 transfer bread dough to a floured work surface; knead by hand five times (count 'em); now let it rest for five minutes (this works, trust me).
• 19 flour a rolling pin and roll dough into a 10 x 14-inch rectangle; do not over-work the dough, light touches are best!
• 20 use a pizza cutter or knife to cut rolled-out dough into two-inch squares or diamonds if you're really creative!
• 21 place squares/diamonds on top of the chicken-veg-gravy mixture in the pan--aim for a cobblestone look (overlap them a bit).
• 22 brush generously with egg glaze (this will give the dough a nice brown--slightly shiny--finish).
• 23 put into a cold oven, turn heat to 350 (the dough will rise a bit while the oven heats); bake 35-45 minutes--the dough will be a lovely rich brown color.
• 24 let rest about 5 minutes before serving.
• 25 with a green salad or a fruit salad on the side you have climbed to the top of the pedestal!