Pie Crust and Pies

Pie Crust for Sweet or Savory.

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This Recipe calls for 1/4 part Lard and 3/4 part Butter, but You can also use all Butter, or 1/2 c Butter to 1/2 c Lard, or 1/2 Shortening to 1/2 Butter to make Your Crusts, but the more Lard, the harder to work with the Dough because Lard makes the Dough more Sticky. So this is a more workable Dough and still Flakey as if you used Lard.

INGREDIENTS FOR PIE CRUST….
Makes 2:
3/4 tsp Salt.
2 3/4 c flour.
1/4 c Shortening, Butter, Lard (or for Savory, Fat from Pork or Beef Roast skimmings)
3/4 c salted Butter
3/8 c Ice water.. or up to (1/2 c +2 Tbsp)

HINT…
FOR THANKSGIVING… Because I make about 6 pies, I pre measure the Flour to single Recipe Batches, (makes 2 Crusts ea) and Add the Salt and Butter to individual Baggies, then I toss them all into the Frigid until I’m ready to make either the Crusts or Pies. Sometimes I roll them out, and roll the Crusts up on Saran Wrap like Pillsbury does to make it easy to just pull out and let come to room temp before adding to the pie pans. I also use a Double Crust Recipe to make Pie Bars in a Jelly Roll Pan.
Another Tip… if you are making lots of Pies, you can use a Tortilla Press to start the roll out Process.. just stack them up with wax paper in between, and keep them on a Cookie Sheet in the frigid as you work each one.

Pie Dough is finicky. Too much Water and over mixing can cause tough Crusts.
Too much Lard and the Dough can be too sticky to handle and will need more Flour.

DIRECTIONS FOR HAND MIXED.
Use a Dry Measure-Measuring Cup (because a Wet Measure-Measuring Cup has a lip on it)….Using the Spooning method to measure your Flour, spoon Flour into your DRY MEASURE-measuring Cup to avoid compacting the Flour, or gently fluff up the Flour in the bag first and carefully dip the Measuring cup under the Flour that you want and let it fall into the Cup, scrape off the excess with a Flat blade. Repeat this for every Cup measured out.
Add the Flour and Salt to a large Mixing Bowl and stir with a Whisk or Fork.
Using Cold Butter and or Lard, cut into Tbsp sized pieces.
Add 1/2 of Butter/lard to the Flour and using a Pastry Cutter or two Forks, cut the Fat into the Flour until it’s all the size of Peas, then cut in the rest of the Fat and cut in until the lumps are more like Cornmeal.
Without Pouring the Water in one spot, Drizzle the Ice Water over the Mixture and fold in. Without over working the Dough, Keep folding until the Dough comes together and can be formed into a Ball. If Dough is too dry, then add 1 more Tbsp of Water and mix in. Again try not to Overwork the Dough.

DIRECTIONS FOR FOOD PROCESSOR:
Add all ingredients to a food Processor except for the Water and Blend in Food Processor by pulsing until Dough barely begins to form. Add the Ice Water and pulse until starts to form a Ball, it should still have a little Flour on the outside that you will use when you form a ball with it before rolling out.
To make the Dough easier to roll out, divide it into half. Form two Balls. Wrap the balls in Saran Wrap or a Baggie and put them into the Fridge for 1 hr…30 minutes minimum. Take one ball out and let set on the counter for 5 min. Proceed to roll the dough out on a Floured surface, Flour the top of the dough and Pin as well. keeping the surfaces floured. See Pics.
Another way to do this is to put between two pieces of Saran Wrap.

I have used cold Flour, cold Butter, frozen Fats, or even refrigerated Lard cut into small cubes, ice Water,….etc. different types of Flour as well. The key, in my opinion is COLD Ingredients.

If you use Lard, the Dough will be sticky, and soft depending on how Cold the Ingredients are, if so, turn out onto a heavily floured surface, try not to overwork. Warm hands can cause problems. Granite/Marble is a great surface to work Pie Dough on if you have Pat it out, and gently roll out to 1/8“. if it’s sticky still, then you may need a long Knife to get under it To loosen it to get it in the pan.