Family Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix lard, flour, and salt.
Add cold water gradually until the dough holds together.
Roll and layer
Roll out the dough thinly for your pie plate.
Rub the rolled crust with butter and sprinkle with flour.
Roll it up, cut into pieces, and roll out again for 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
- Lard
- Fat coats flour particles, keeping the crust tender and flaky.
- Flour
- Its proteins form gluten, giving the crust its structure.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together and can be rolled.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water gradually. Too much water or overworking the dough develops excess gluten, making the crust tough. Adding water a little at a time lets you stop once the dough just holds together, keeping it tender.
“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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