Traditionally this was formed around a wooden ‘dolly’ mould and then baked without support, leading to a pie with the slightly bulging silhouette still found in the Melton Mowbray version, but ...

You can mould your pie crust with a wooden structure called a dolly (available from cookshops), or use a pie tin with a 9.5cm diameter. Serves 4 ...

She was credited with making the first Melton Mowbray Pork Pie hand-raised with a wooden dolly in the 1790s. Gluten-free vegetarian pie crowned winner at British Pie Awards.