The problem in hand
We felt that a common failing of pies was their tendency to collapse as soon as you lifted them by hand to the mouth and started eating. This seemed like a serious product flaw – and a bit of a cruel joke – given that most pies are eaten this way (good news for dry cleaners though). Pie eaters didn't seem happy about this design issue, but grudgingly accepted it as the norm, developing techniques to help keep the dry cleaning bill down.

What we had in mind
At Brother Tom's we felt that this common failing had to be addressed if we were to develop a cracking handheld pie. One way to approach the problem was to construct an incredibly robust pastry with walls as thick as Fort Knox so that the pastry wouldn't break up even if it took a direct hit from a cruise missile. However, here at Brother Tom's we're not big fans of stodgy pastry which leaves you feeling as if you've just had Christmas lunch, and wanted a softer, lighter style of pastry. It's not because of doctor's advice, but we were also keen to avoid a greasy pastry which left congealed fat lining the roof of the mouth.

The talented Mr Heaven
Some said it was a pretty big ask to come up with the light, soft, yet steadfastly stable pastry we had in mind, which is why we roped in a seriously experienced pie maker – Graham Heaven - to tackle the problem. After being given the brief, Graham locked himself away in the bakery for a good while, occasionally asking Nick to scurry off and get some ingredients. Eventually Graham came out of the bakery with arms aloft and declared the mission accomplished.

Pastry science
It's not quite up there with rocket science, but developing and making Brother Tom's two pastries – one for the pie base and another one for the lid - does involve a fair amount of skill and craftsmanship. We won't bore you with the detail, but it's stuff like selecting flours with just the right protein levels, pastry shortenings of a certain malleability, avoiding the under and over mixed dough, knowing how many book folds to use when sheeting the dough – and so on.  

Free from
And for those who might be interested, we can report that the Brother Tom's pastry contains no artificial flavours, preservatives or hydrogenated fats, and is suitable for vegetarians.