Never Fail Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Chop the lard into the flour mixture using a knife.
Make the dough
Add water and mix well without kneading.
Press the dough together and roll it out.
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
- Provides the proteins and starch that form the dough's structure.
- Lard
- Stays in solid pieces within the flour, keeping the crust tender and flaky.
- Baking powder
- Releases carbon dioxide in the dough, giving a small amount of lift.
The step that matters
Add water and mix well without kneading. Once water hits the flour, gluten begins to form, and extra mixing or kneading toughens the crust. Mixing only until the dough holds together keeps it tender and preserves the lard pieces that create flakiness.
“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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