Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, combine flour, lard, and salt.
Cut the lard into the flour using a knife.
Stir in enough ice water to form a dough.
Portion
Divide the dough into three portions for three pies.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the crust its structure.
- Lard
- Coats flour particles and keeps the crust tender and flaky by blocking gluten formation.
- Ice water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together without overworking it.
The step that matters
Cut the lard into the flour. Lard should stay in small, cold pieces. When it melts into the flour, the crust becomes dense instead of flaky, because the solid fat pockets create layers as they steam during baking.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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