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Flaky pie dough:

280g plain flour (this has been corrected/updated)

225g butter, cubed

6g salt

24g sugar

60g creme fraiche, sour cream or buttermilk

60g water, cold

Before we begin… For this recipe, you just need to BRING the confidence. The faster you work, the better your dough will be as the butter won’t have a chance to melt, so just bloody go for it. Leave the butter in bigger chunks than you think, because we’ll be doing a folding method to keep it flaky. And remember, you’ve got this!

Whisk water and creme fraiche/sour cream/buttermilk together and set aside in the fridge or freezer to chill

Mix together the plain flour, salt, sugar and whisk to distribute everything evenly

Cut butter into small cubes / rectangles

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Squish the butter into flat pieces, one by one

Now it’s time to add the liquid - pour in half and toss the dries around the bowl until you can’t see it anymore. Now add the rest and squish together. As soon as it doesn’t feel like total desolation, tip the dough onto your bench top

Squash everything together as best you can and then, adding flour if you need, roll out the dough and perform a single turn. You’ll see chunks of butter turn into long thin pieces - its quite satisfying!

Press the dough back together - adding more flour if you need - then perform 2 more single turns until the dough is homogenous but you can see big lovely marble-y streaks of butter

Wrap the dough (also divide it into chunks at this stage - squares are fine, we’ll roll it out later) and put into the fridge for 1.5 hours (minimum) for it to firm back up

To roll it out, flour your surface enough to stop any sticking then roll the pie dough out to 3mm. This is way thinner than you think is going to work. Trust me. I’ve made a lot of pie doughs that are TOO THICK because I simply haven’t

If the dough is warming up too much and it doesn’t feel cute… just put it in the fridge and return to it in 10 minutes

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Cheese & mustard mix

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20g Dijon mustard

20g grated cheese (I used winchester but you could use a mature cheddar or any rich tangy hard cheese)

1-2g Flaky salt, to taste

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To assemble

250g poached quince, sliced into 2cm thick segments

20g cheese, coarsely grated

About 20g cheese, grated finely on top (don’t do in advance)

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Method

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Method

Roll out pastry to form a rectangular shape measuring approximately 38cm x 24cm and about 0.25cm-0.3cm thick. Trim the edges then cut in half. Reserve one half in the fridge.

Spread a layer of 100g of the creme fraiche mustard mix evenly across the entire surface of the pastry, leaving a small border around the edges.

Sprinkle 20g of your preferred cheese evenly over the mustard layer, ensuring good coverage.

Arrange 250g of quince slices in an even layer on top of the mustard and cheese, covering the pastry evenly. Place the second layer of pastry on top to cover then fold over and pinch the edges to seal. Make a few tiny vent marks with a toothpick.

Egg wash and cover with finely grated cheese - a microplane is good here. Grating cheese with a fine grater will let it go crispy. Freeze for 20 minutes while the oven pre-heats or put in the fridge for 45 minutes. You can prep this pie 24h ahead.

Bake the pie in a preheated oven until the pastry turns golden brown and the cheese is ultra crisp.

Once baked, remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool before slicing. This helps the flavors meld and ensures cleaner slices.

Serve your Quince and Cheese Pie warm or at room temperature, ideally with a spoon of jelly.

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