Great for when you’re on the go and on a budget, this sourdough beef hand pie recipe is adaptable, filling, and delicious. You don’t have to pay to eat out when you’re on the go if you think ahead and make a big batch of these stuffed hand pies. This is a long-ferment sourdough recipe, for optimal health! 
A Few More Sourdough Recipes for Later:
Sourdough Banana Bread (with discard)
The last time we made this sourdough beef hand pie recipe, we were all heading into the big city to see my daughter walk a very important stage for a very big deal in her educational journey. It’s over an hour drive each way and it was landing right in the middle of the dinner hour.
If I could find a money tree and grow that on the homestead, I would have just had us all stop and get something relatively healthy in town. Although, finding truly healthy restaurant food can be a challenge.
Realizing all that, I made up a double batch of our favorite sourdough beef hand pies and tossed them in a bag with water bottles, local fall apples, and some homemade marshmallowss for a treat.
We ate heartily over the tailgate of our car in a prime parking space we nabbed by the grace of God in that crazy big city. It was a blast!
The Night Before You Need to Eat Your Sourdough Beef Hand Pies
The only trick to sourdough recipes is that you have to think ahead. Sourdough is considered a slow food, especially if you ferment it for 6 hours or more (known as a long-ferment).
- The longer you ferment, the more the sourdough consumes the starches in your grain, making it more digestible for you. This process also unlocks all the nutrition in the grain so that your body can make use of it.
Unlike commercial yeast which can raise bread dough in an hour or two, sourdough takes much longer because it’s working much harder.
The night before I need to have these beef hand pies ready to go, I set up the dough for the meat pies. I place it in the fridge to ferment overnight.
- Refrigerating sourdough slows down the process of fermentation, but it doesn’t stop it. The fridge allows me to get a nice night of sleep without having to babysit my dough.
I also cook up the filling of hamburger and veggies.
In the morning, I remove the dough, roll it out, fill it, and bake it so they hand pies are ready to go by dinner. You can adjust the timing for work or school schedules and other things that might take you away.
- You’re the boss of your sourdough; make it work for you!
Sourdough Beef Hand Pie Recipe Ingredients Adjustable
The herbs called for in this recipe are entirely adjustable to your taste and the season. If you grow your own herbs, I suggest you make this a seasonal dish by using whatever is ready for harvest in the garden the day you make them.
Suitable herbs that pair well with ground beef are:
You can also use homegrown veggies like:
This is also the kind of recipe where you can chop and dump whatever is in your vegetable drawer threatening to go bad. This makes this sourdough beef hand pie recipe a truly zero waste food.
–>>If you’re a member of our email newsletter family, be sure to look for your free copy of our Zero Waste Kitchen Workbook to help you brainstorm and plan more zero waste recipes. This one will eventually make its way into our shop, so be sure to use it while it’s still free. If you’re not a member of our newsletter family, simply join us with this link and scroll through the member library for many useful workbooks, including this zero waste one.
Sourdough Beef Hand Pie Recipe
Make these healthy and delicious sourdough beef hand pies for your next picnic, road trip, or busy evening. This is a classic make-ahead meal that can use up the extra veggies in your fridge. It includes other fillers like leftover potato or sqaush, as well as a bit of cheese. The sourdough is long ferments for optimal health. Serve hot or cold!
Sourdough Beef Hand Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Hand Pie Dough
- 1 Cup Einkorn Flour
- 2 Cups Organic White Flour
- 1 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Powdered Garlic
- 1 1/2 Cups Water
- 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
- 1/2 Cup Sourdough Starter
Hand Pie Filling
- 2 Tbsp. Butter or Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Diced Onions
- 1/2 Cup Diced Leeks
- 1 lbs. Organic Ground Beef
- 1 Cup Shredded Cabbage
- 1 Cup Chopped Kale
- 1 Cup Chopped Spinach
- 1 Cup Grated or Cubed Cheese
- 4 Tbsp. Shredded Fresh Basil or 2 tsp. Dried Basil
- 1 Cup Leftover Baked Squash or Pumpkin Optional
- 1 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1 tsp. Black Pepper
- 1/4 tsp. Cayenne Powder or Chilli Lime Seasoning
Instructions
Hand Pie Dough
- Mix 1 cup einkorn, 2 cups organic white flour, 1 tsp. sea salt, and 1/2 tsp. powdered garlic in a medium sized bowl.
- In another bowl mix 1 1/2 water, 1/2 cup sourdough starter, and 1 Tbsp. olive oil.
- Add the water mixture to the flour mixture and stir until dough begins to form. If you're using a mixer, mix until the dough clear the sides of the bowl. If you're stirring, mix by hand until cohesive dough forms. Shape into a ball.
- Place the ball back in the bowl and cover. Allow to ferment for at least six hours in a warm place. If you'd like to ferment it overnight, place the dough in the fridge.
Make Hand Pie Filling
- Melt 2 Tbsp. of butter in a medium-sized pan. Sautee 1 cup of diced onions and 1/2 cups of diced leeks. Once the onions are opaque, add the 1lb. of ground beef and cook until browned. Break apart hamburger so that it's not clumped together.
- Add 1 cup of shredded cabbage and 1 cup of chopped kale and cook until softened. Add 1 cup of chopped spinach.
- Remove the beef and veggie combination to a large bowl and add 1 cup cheese, 1 cup squash, 1 tsp. sea salt, 1 tsp. black pepper, and 1/4 tsp. cayenne. Mix thoroughly until all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
To Bake Sourdough Beef Hand Pies
- Preheat your oven to 350F/176C.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and work with your hands for a few minutes to smooth and shape it into a log. Using kitchen scissors, cut the dough log into 12 equal pieces. You can weigh them to be sure they're exactly the same weight, or you can eyeball it.
- Sprinkle flour on a clean surface or simple wet the surface to prevent sticking. Roll each ball of dough out in a circle to about 1/4" thickness. Add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of the beef filling to one side of each circle of dough. Don't overfill or it will eventually leak out and burst when it's baking.
- Fold one side of the dough up and over the side with the filling. Fold over the edge and/or use a fork to seal the outside edge of the hand pie.
- Place each hand pie on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with butter while still hot.
Notes
- You can omit the cheese, if you'd like to go dairy-free.
To keep track of your sourdough recipes, as well as ferment times and baking details, please join our newsletter family and receive our super simple Sourdough Worksheets!
Sourdough Bee Hand Pie Recipe Notes
This recipe is highly adaptable, so feel free to switch out any veggies you have in the fridge. If you grow your own veggies, be sure to make these seasonal food by using whatever you have that’s freshest.
Here are a few links to help you learn more about growing your own veggies for dinner:
Create a Vegetable Plant Guild in 7 Steps
4 Annual Vegetables to Grow in Pots
A Few More Random Notes
The squash isn’t necessary, but it does act as a kind of binder; the cheese does, too.
- You can omit the cheese, if you’d like to go dairy-free.
When you’re rolling out the dough, keep it to around 1/4″ thick so that it will be strong enough to encase the filling without baking up too thin or splitting.
Be sure not to overfill the hand pies, even though you’ll be tempted. Even if the dough doesn’t break, it will be super thin in spots and could pop open in your hand. No bueno.
Fold over the edges and crimp by hand, or you can use a fork to seal them.
Use a pastry brush to cover the baked beef hand pies in melted butter. You can also simply run a stick of butter over the top and it will melt with the heat.
These will keep in the fridge for a week, if you can manage not to eat them all in one sitting.
Once cool, you can freeze these hand pies and eat within a month. Be sure the container is totally freezer-proof to protect the flavor.
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