Perfect Flaky Pie Crust
Serve with either vanilla ice cream or this Amaretto Whipped Cream from Jessica at How Sweet Eats. Divine!
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2014/07/sweet-cherry-pie-with-amaretto-whipped-cream/
Calories
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 Tbsp cold butter 1/2 cup, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 8 Tbsp cold lard (1/2 cup) separated into several chunks
- 6-8 Tbsp ice water
Instructions
- To Make the Pie Crust
- Mix flour and salt in food processor fitted with metal blade.
- Cut in butter cubes with five 1-second pulses. Add cold lard and continue cutting in until flour resembles coarse cornmeal with butter bits no bigger than small peas, about 4 additional 1-second pulses. Turn mixture out into a medium-sized bowl.
- Use your fingers to quickly sift through the mixture and if you find any really large chunks, just massage with some flour with your fingers to break it up.
- Sprinkle 3 Tbsp of ice water over mixture. With a fork, fluff to mix thoroughly. Squeeze a handful of dough — if it doesn’t stick together, add two more tablespoons of water and repeat. Continue adding 1 tablespoon at a time until a quick squeeze of the dough shows it is sticking togeether
- Divide dough into two and then flatten into 6-inch discs. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling. I had better success using a pastry cloth than trying to roll it on my granite top but in either case, make sure you sprinkle counter/cloth with flour and flour your rolling pin.
- Proceed with your recipe!
Notes
One of the MOST important aspects of making a successful pie is keeping everything cold so that the fat in your crust is solid when baking starts and they can do their magic in the oven; that's a big part of creating a flaky crust.
I freeze my processor bowl and blade and put the mixing bowl in the fridge. When it's time to test the dough after mixing with ICE water...make it quick; same when you pat it into those disks.
Nutrition
Serving: 1grams