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Befordshire Clangers

This is it, the bake that sparked my Great British Baking Show Bake-Along, the Bedfordshire Clanger! This bake was the signature bake for Forgotten Bakes Week and I wanted to bake with other bakers so much I decided to make a group to do just that!

I watched as the bakers made their “Bedfordshire Clangers” and they talked about how this was a Traditional Bedfordshire Hand Pie for agricultural or metal workers; I wanted to make a Clanger SO BAD.

So I made Bedfordshire Clangers

But I didn’t just want to make one; I wanted to part of a bake-off or group baking project and make Clangers. Boom, look where we are, right in the middle of my wish to participate in the Great British Baking Show, make clangers and fortuitously use up our leftover turkey. This week is winning for me, how about you?

Great British Baking Show Bake-Along

Is an easy, fun way to make new foods, meet new friends and hone your baking, frosting, steaming, cooking and decorating skills. Plus we even have our own weekly Star(Bucks) Baker who wins a 10 dollar coffee card. It’s been so much fun, and I hope we keep having fun with new bakes in the new year, join us!

Full photo of Clangers a Bedfordshire Hand Pie

Bedfordshire Clangers

In the show, they said that Clangers were a baked lunch hand pie sent with agricultural or metal workers. But a little research showed that perhaps they started life as a boiled dumpling and that the hand pie on the show was an invention of the 90s when a bakery made and sold them.

I don’t know about that; a hand pie sounds a lot better than cold boiled dumpling for lunch out in the field.

The Clangers on the Great British Baking Show were roughly 10 inches long and 2-3 inches wide. One end of the clanger gets filled with a savory filling, and the other end was a sweet pie-like filling. They were roughly 2/3 savory and 1/3 sweet with a little dough wall dividing them.

Leftover Turkey

For my Clangers I used leftover turkey, potatoes and a bit of gravy for the savory end. You can use ANY leftovers for the savory filling, plan on about 4-4 1/2cups of filling to fill the Clangers and make sure it’s not too wet.

If you’re mixing up leftovers, I highly recommend warming them to pull them together and then let the mixture cool off before filling and wrapping.

I gently heated the chopped potatoes and then add the gravy and leftover turkey and mixed them well. Then I tasted it, adjusted the seasonings and set it aside.

It’s important to cool your filling before using it. Too hot of a filling will start your hand pie dough melting before it gets a chance to bake.

Photo of a Savory Side of Clangers a Bedfordshire Hand Pie

The Sweet End of a Clanger

For the sweet end of the hand pie, I used four apples on the edge of being too ripe to make a bit of an apple pie filling. You’re going to need roughly 2 1/2 cups of filling for the sweet end. Each hand pie will get a nice full 1/3 cup or so of sweet filling.

You can ABSOLUTELY use a can of pre-made pie filling. I haven’t done that but you could. It may be juicier than you want but it would work!

a photo of the sweet side of Clangers a Bedfordshire Hand Pie

Hand Pie Dough

And don’t worry this recipe includes the Hand Pie Dough recipe as well. Flaky crispy and perfect for rolling hand pies. It’s not sturdy enough to pack to the field but it will make it to your plate! Enjoy!

Pin for a Bedfordshire Clanger.
Yield: 6 hand pies

Clangers

Full photo of Clangers a Bedfordshire Hand Pie-savory and sweet filling make an all in one dinner pie

Clangers are a traditional Bedfordshire Hand Pie. 2/3 savory, 1/3 sweet with a flaky crust. Featured on the Great British Baking Show, perfect for leftovers.

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Cooling Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

Hand Pie Pastry

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp Sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 cup butter

Hand Pie Fillings

  • 4 cups mixed lefotvoers
  • 2 1/2 cups sweet filling, can be pie filling, jams or jellies, sliced apples
  • 1 egg
  • 1 TBSP water

Instructions

Hand Pie Dough

  1. in the bowl of a food processor mix the flour, salt and sugar
  2. chop the butter and add in to the flour mix, pulse to combine
  3. slowing drizzle in the cold water pulsing the food processor until the dough clumps up
  4. divide in 6 equal pieces, wrap lightly and chill for one hour

Clangers

  1. preheat oven to 375˚
  2. warm fillings and get them prepped and ready to go
  3. set out a small dish of cold water for adding the dough wall and sealing the edges
  4. lightly dust your work surface, roll out each piece of dough to a roughly 10x5 inche rectangle
  5. lay trim off any uneven edges, save for dividing the filling
  6. make a small dough wall, dampen with water, place 2/3 of the way down the dough
  7. add roughly 3/4 cup of savory filling up to the wall
  8. add around 1/3 cup or so sweet filling to sweet end
  9. wet the edges and fold the long edges up and over lap them on top, pinch the ends shut
  10. place on a baking tray, poke holes or slash the sweet end
  11. repeat with remaing dough and fillings
  12. beat the egg with the water and brush over the top of the clangers
  13. bake in the pre heated oven for 45-50 minutes or until crispy and lightly browned

Notes

  • sweet fillings can vary widely, if using fresh fruit cook until the juices release, taste and add sugar and spice as needed

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laura sampson

About Laura

Laura is on a mission to teach modern family oriented women how to make old-fashioned foods new again. A wife and mom of 3 boys, Laura understands the struggles of trying to serve a home-cooked meal each night. She provides recipes and cooking hacks for busy moms to create dishes they may think take more time or skill than they have to make. Read more...

8 thoughts on “Befordshire Clangers”

    • Yep, that was probably lost when I changed recipe cards, sometimes things don’t transfer over properly. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

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