Tielle sétoise

Knead the dough. Mix 400 g flour, 250 ml water, 5 g yeast, 20 ml olive oil and 7 g salt, then knead until smooth and elastic. Timing: 15 minutes. A moderately developed bread dough gives the tielle its characteristic sturdy covered crust. The dough is smooth, elastic and springs back slowly when pressed.

Proof until doubled. Rest the covered dough until risen. Timing: 60 minutes. Heat: warm room temperature. Temperature: about 24–26 °C room. The proof provides enough lift for a bread-like rather than cracker-thin crust. The dough has visibly expanded to about double its original volume.

Cook the octopus until tender. Simmer the 1,000 g cleaned octopus gently until the thickest part reaches 63 °C early in cooking and continued simmering makes the flesh tender, then drain and cut it into bite-size pieces. Timing: 60 minutes. Heat: gentle simmer. Temperature: 63 °C minimum internal temperature during the cook. Octopus needs both a safe seafood temperature and enough gentle cooking to become tender. Use commercially cleaned octopus and keep raw seafood separate from ready-to-eat ingredients. The thickest octopus part has reached 63 °C and, by the end of the simmer, a knife enters the thicker tentacle flesh with little resistance.

Reduce the spicy tomato sauce. Cook 200 g onion and 15 g garlic in 30 ml olive oil until soft, add 100 ml white wine and reduce, then add 800 g tomatoes, 40 g tomato paste, 5 g salt, thyme, bay leaf, chilli and saffron and simmer until thick. Timing: 30 minutes. Heat: medium then medium-low heat. Temperature: simmering. A reduced filling prevents the enclosed dough from becoming wet and gummy. Alcohol should not be assumed to evaporate completely; hot tomato sauce can spit. The sauce is thick enough that a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a track for several seconds and no watery liquid pools around it.

Chill the filling rapidly. Fold the cooked octopus into the reduced sauce, discard the bay leaf, spread the filling in a shallow container and cool rapidly before enclosing it in dough. Timing: 45 minutes. Temperature: 4 °C or colder by the end of cooling. Cold thick filling prevents premature yeast softening and limits time in the temperature danger zone. Move the seafood filling into refrigeration promptly and keep it at 4 °C or colder. The filling is cool throughout and no warmer than 4 °C before it touches the dough.

Enclose the filling. Divide the dough 55:45, roll the larger piece to line a lightly oiled 28 cm round tin with an overhang, spread in all the cold filling, cover with the smaller round, seal and crimp the edges, and cut a small central vent. Timing: 30 minutes. The 55:45 division leaves enough dough for the deeper base while maintaining a fully covered top. The bottom dough covers the base and sides without tears, all filling is enclosed, the edge is firmly sealed and a small vent is open in the centre.

Bake the covered pie. Bake until the top and bottom crusts are fully cooked and browned, then remove the pie from the oven. Timing: 35 minutes. Heat: 190 °C conventional oven. Temperature: 190 °C. A complete bake is needed because the moist seafood filling is fully enclosed. Steam escapes through the vent; keep hands clear and use oven gloves. The top is evenly browned, the bottom crust is dry and firm when lifted at the edge, and no raw dough remains around the sealed rim.