Pie Crust - traditional

The secret to a scrumptious pie is the crust.  My mom baked the best pie in the world.  Her crusts were awe-some.  To this day Tegan prefers lemon meringue pie as her birthday cake.


My Mom gave me her recipe - which turned out to the the recipe on the inside of the Tenderflake box.  No big secret there - just water and fat.  The secret is in how you mix the ingredients together.  



Mom says the key is ice cold water.  As in, water with ice cubes in it. 


The trick is to mix the dough without over-mixing it or letting it warm up.


Mom always froze her lard as an added "cool" factor.  She also would put a scoop of margarine in.


Some people swear by the addition of vinegar.  Everybody has a theory.
When I took a class with a master chef, he said to use only butter and grate it with a cheese grater.


Ultimately, I suspect that like anything else, pie-making is a combination of art and science. 
I hope the pictures give you a good idea of how to mix the dough - but it's no picnic to make dough and take pictures simultaneously.


Here's my take on my mom's pie dough.


Pie Crust
Makes 3 9-inch double crust pies or 6 pie shells.  
Cut recipe in half for 1 double crust pie and 1 single crust pie shell.

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 lb Tenderflake lard

1 egg, stirred slightly

1 tbsp vinegar

1 cup cold water

Mix together flour and salt.

If desired, substitute 1/4 cup butter for 1/4 cup of the lard.
Cut in lard/butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse oatmeal.

(I grate the frozen lard with a cheese grater and then mix it in by pinching the fat into the mixture with my fingers.)

In a 1 cup measure combine vinegar and egg. Add water to make 1 cup.

Gradually stir 3/4 of the liquid into flour mixture with a fork just until combined.

Add only enough liquid to make dough cling together. Handle as little as possible.

Gather into a ball and divide into 6 equal pancake-shaped portions.
If desired, wrap unused portions and refrigerate or freeze.
Roll out each portion on lightly floured surface. If the dough is sticking chill 1 - 2 hours.

Sprinkle flour under the pancake of dough to prevent sticking. When rolling, start from the centre and roll outwards, putting a little downward pressure. (Use 2 hands - you don't have to take a picture at the same time.)

First, roll from the centre towards 12 o'clock.  Then roll from the centre to 6 o'clock.  Repeat with rolling to 3:00, then 6:00 then 2:00, then 5:00, then 7:00, then 10:00.

 The dough should be even thickness and a little bigger than the pie plate.Transfer dough to pie plate by using a flipper to release dough from work surface.

fold in half

fold in quarter

lift with flipper and transfer to pie plate

place on pie plate

and start to unfold in the pieplate

If you are making a single crust pie, trim the excess dough

Press down the edges.  Poke holes in the dough with a fork. 

At this point, fussy cooks would line the crust with foil and pour unbaked dried beans into the crust.  The foil and beans would be removed for the last 3 minutes of baking to allow it to brown.

I'm not fussy and yes the crust shrinks a bit, but I don't mind.

Bake at 400º until the edges of the crust are starting to turn golden and the bottom of the crust has lost its translucent "raw" look, 10 to 12 minutes.