Plain Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix the flour, lard, salt, and baking powder until crumbly.
Add the ice water gradually, mixing until the dough comes together.
Shape
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to fit your pie dish.
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the dough together.
- Lard
- Coats flour particles to keep the crust tender and flaky.
- Ice water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough binds without warming the fat.
The step that matters
Add the ice water gradually. Too much water develops gluten and makes the crust tough, while too little leaves it crumbly and hard to roll. Adding it slowly lets you stop once the dough just comes together.
“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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