For the first time in years, here is a pastry recipe I really like. The pastry needs to be worked with at room temp--if you refrigerate it for later, leave it out on the counter for a while to bring it up to room temperature before rolling it out or it's not going to work easily. I used half lard and half shortening, also left out the vanilla as I don't care for it in pastry particularly. The vanilla might work well if making cream pies or similar, it was too much for me here. I suspect this recipe will work equally well with straight shortening, but it will change the texture somewhat. Nonetheless, this is a very tender pastry that is easy to roll out. It's even easy to fold over to get to the pie pan--I've not been able to do that with other pastry recipes I've had in the past, and I love it. And it can be rolled out thin as well, even better.
Excellent recipe! The only change I made was that I substituted butter for the lard. It was so easy to roll out and it baked very nicely.
This pastry really lived up to its name today. I made it exactly by the recipe. It was a bit sticky but after it was chilled I decided to roll it out between waxed paper. Great idea or so I thought. It rolled out beutifully no tears just perfect. However it would not come off of the waxed paper. So since I'm one not to be defeated and because I didn't want to start again I just scraped the dough off of the waxed paper reshaped it floured it and the board and rolled it out again. It again rolled out beautifully. I'm thinking at this point that this mess will be the toughest worst pastry I've ever made but I plowed ahead. I used it with Bev's Chocolate Pie from this site so it wasn't blind baked just baked right along with the pie. I gotta tell you this even after the torture I put it through was the best pie pastry I've ever made. My nephew even said he liked the "crust" better than the pie although he didn't have any problem "forcing down" two large pieces. Great recipe. Thanks much.
This was my first attempt at baking. In fact just about anything I make is a first. I'm retired and just begining to learn the ropes. My wife still works so I try to fix her dinner when she gets home. I made this pie crust for the luscious chicken pot pie (also on this site) and the end result was exceptional. I didn't even make a mess with the flour. The crust was flakey (I think that's a good thing) and the taste was great. If I can make this anyone can!!
YES! This is the best ever pie crust! I have tried crusts w/ butter shortening and oil. Lard is the key! This was so easy and it turned out awesome. I made it first w/ a chicken pot pie. Very easy turned out perfect flakey and browned perfectly no burnt edges. I even tried to over knead it to see what happened. It made no difference it was perfect. Then I made it with an apple pie. I Added 1T sugar 1T vanilla and 1T Cinnamon. Everybody ranted an raved at how good the pie was and this is a group of gourmet cooks & restaurant workers. I will never try another Pie crust recipe. Thanks Elaine! UPDATE: for those of you substituting butter/shortening/margarine DON'T! The key is the lard. The lard makes this crust light & flaky like no other oil can.
I will never use another pastry recipe again. This was great tasting use to roll and flakey. I was worried at first b/c it was soo stickey I thought of adding more flour but after cooking I was glade I didn't. JUST WOUNDERFUL.
I used butter instead of lard and it was perfect, very easy to work with. I put it in the fridge before rolling and it wasn't sticky at all. Maybe the difference is in the baking powder...
My sainted grandmother would have never made a pie crust without lard. She considered shortening new-fangled. She was well known for her pies and her boiled icings. I finally know what she meant... and she was right! As soon as I read the ingredients I remembered this and knew I'd found "the answer". Many thanks for submitting this my new favorite recipe!
I am truly amazed. The traditional tourtiere Christmas dinner became my responsibility this year but I very rarely make pastry. I man-handled the dough (I also omitted the sugar and vanilla) and it turned out amazing. Even my mother-in-law commented on how good the tourtiere was. Such an easy recipe and very tender and flaky. This recipe is a keeper and I will share it with anyone who is interested.
We did not like this recipe at all. After many years of using the same never fail pie pastry recipe I decided to compare mine to another "never fail pastry". It didn't occur to me until after the pastry was made that the ratio of lard and flour is wrong. I didn't check but I think that most good pastry recipes on this site have a ratio of 3 parts flour and 2 parts lard. This recipe is 2:1. With a ratio like that you end up with a gooey mess that tastes like lard when baked. It did turn out flaky so I gave it 2 stars for that but it tasted awful. I chilled this pastry overnight and still had problems. As i was working with it I kept drawing in a lot of flour and even then I had to piece it together in the pan. If you are going to use this recipe I would suggest you add at least another 3/4 c.flour to the recipe. By adding the flour right away at least you will have control of how much flour you are using. I will continue to use my own never fail pie pastry recipe.
