Alan's Pie Crust

I found this recipe to be very good but, it was a little crumbly and I had a hard time rolling it out.I live in a fairly dry climate so next time I'll try more water, spoon by spoon.All in all, it was the best pie crust I have made.Thanks for sharing.

I've always heard that a pie crust made with lard is exceptionally flakey. I had wanted to try a butter/lard combo, so when I found some "leafy" lard, I went for it. The crust was flavorful because of the butter, and flakey due to the lard; the dough was a little crumbly to work with, but I'll keep trying, and next time try adding just a touch more water to see what happens as I liked the results. Thanks, for sharing your recipe, Alan!

I tried your "pie crust recipe" back on 10/01/02 .It came out EXCELLENT ,I now use it on a regular basis ,the lard gives it a taste of the country. Do you have any more EXCELLENT recipes to share..

Loved the butter/lard combination that made this both flavorful and flaky. I made this super-easy in my food processor - mixed the flour, salt, butter and lard with short, brief pulses until I got the consistency I wanted (pea-sized, as they say), then added chilled water, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture just came together, so I didn't measure the water exactly. For those who found their crust "crumbly," you may not be adding enough water. This was one of the easier recipes to roll out too! I had no problems getting it into the pie plate whatsoever and it crimped beautifully. Next time, however, I may increase the amount of fat, either the butter or the lard, by maybe a couple of tablespoons to add a bit more tenderness and richness to the crust. Otherwise I would call this recipe notably reliable for novice and expert alike.

What a great pie dough. The only thing I did differently was I cut in the butter/lard with a pastry blender. When I added the water, I tossed with a fork until dough started to come together. Then I work it with my hands. It was so easy to work with. Just great !!

i have tryed great-great grandmom's and great grandmom's and down the line to myself and many on the inter net but this recipe is so easy and flaky that i will make this my hand down receipe to my kids and grand children thank you again alan

GRRRRRREAT!

I love this recipe. It's easy and pretty close to perfect.

This is the only recipe I use for pie crust or pastries. It is a no fail crust!

I have tried many recipes for pie crust, this one is easy and a great pastry to work with!

This recipe is very similar to the one I've been using! I use 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of lard/shortening for every 2 cups of flour. If I am using the crusts for a pie, I add a tablespoon of sugar to the flour mixture as well to make it a little tastier! I find that the butter makes the crust very tasty and tender while the lard makes it very flaky - the best of both worlds! Note: Remember to always start with really cold ingredients when making crust, when heated, the lard will pop to make little flaky pockets of buttery flavor! In addition, brush the top of the pie crust with an egg white before baking so that it looks glazed and golden when it comes out of the oven!

Wonderfully easy pie crust. Very flaky and a wonderful complement to my Christmas pies.

Dough is really easy to manage and tastes great. It is easy to roll out.

Tastes good, but VERY difficult to work with. It took me an hour to roll out 3 crusts. It was crumbly, and stuck like crazy to my rolling pin. Then it split and fell apart when I transferred it into the pie plates. I make pie regularly, but thought I'd like to try something new. I'll go back to my old standby Betty Crocker recipe.

This was my first pie crust, and I loved it. I used shortening instead of lard (b/c it's what I had) and added more water. Yummy recipe though!

For me, this recipe did not make 2 crusts - more like one and a half or about 15 tart shells. Otherwise great!

This is a great recipe. I had absolutly no problems with this dough. It rolled out great and tasted fantastic. This is my new pie crust recipe.

Best Pie Crust! I use my food processor to cut in the butter & shortning and then add the water. One hint: Chill your water & shortening. Otherwise perfect!

This was my first pie crust ever and I loved it. It was flakey rolling out but I found if I rolled it slow it flattened out nice. Does anyone know if this recepie freezes well?

wonderful

Not as flaky as my old standby recipe but I ran out of Crisco and had the ingredients for this one. Very nice taste and texture.

I made this crust and it turned out very good. I will make this again.

Pretty good, easy pie crust! I usually use a recipe that uses egg & vinegar, but it makes 6 crusts and I only wanted one today. The dough was easy to work with and puffed up nice & flaky for my Banana Cream Pie!

Best crust I've made from here. Unlike other crusts, this one just slide out of my Teflon pie pan. The butter makes it taste great and it yields enough for a top and button crust. I would recommend rolling out your crust and chilling again while mixing up your filling.

This pie crust was my first, and it turned out great!! I used 1/4 cup of vegtable shortening instead of lard, though, and it was still flakey and delicious, I am sure to make it again soon! :)

This was so delicious and flaky and light and rich. Just wonderful. I made it in a KitchenAid mixer and let the flour, shortening and butter mix to the size of peas. Then added the water (ice cold) by tablespoons until it came together. I think less than 1/3 cups was used because I love in a humid environnent. Didn't leave it in the fridge for the full 2 hours either. Just let it rest there while I did other things. I used it to make sausage rolls for a quick breakfast. So tasty. Just excellent. Would definitely use again and recommend.

This lard/butter combo is PERFECT. Never does me wrong. For liquid, I sub my mother's ratio of 1 T vinegar + ~7 T of very cold water.

I had never made pie crust before, but I got it right on the first try! Very easy to make and has a great taste to it.

Way too much water! Wow. It was absolutely gummy when I took it out of the fridge to roll it.. My grandmother used about 2 TBSPs of water, that I can recall, and only a few more drops if needed. Otherwise good recipe.

I found this recipe to be very easy to work with. I had not made a pie crust from scratch in over 30 years. I am in Denver (high, &dry). So I added an extra tablespoon of water. I also put the water in the freezer to ice it a little. The recipe does not state whether it is for a single crust or a double crust pie. I found it to be a generous amount for a single crust. I liked that because it gave me more to work with. Really the only problem that I had was mustering up the self discipline to stop myself from eating all of the raw dough scraps. The pie went to a Thanksgiving church supper and it was delicious.

Flavor was awesome! As noted by some other cooks, it was a little dry and hard to work. I added an additional tablespoon of water when making the dough, based on other reviews. I've made a note to add additional tablespoons of water on my next attempt. I absolutely will make this crust again!

My son made sweet potato pie using this pie crust recipe on Thankgiving. I woke up to the smell of Thanksgiving. It will be a wonderful memory in our new home. My mom has always been the best pie baker, mainly for her fabulous crust. This recipe is up there with her recipe. Kudos Alan!!!

This so far is the best crust recipe I have had. I made a pie for my family and they raved about the crust. There wasn't even a crumb left. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

no changes and will make again

I'm always looking for a good, quick homemade pie crust recipe and this is it. I made it exactly as listed and it came out GREAT. I used it with my pumpkin pie for the Holidays. My husband raved and he's a very picky eater. I ended up making it again because he wanted me to make another pie. Definitely one of my favorites.

Cut in the ingredients and substituted ghee butter for the lard. Perfection!

I made no changes--just make sure your water is ice cold for best results. This crust has excellent flavor and texture. I will use it for everything. Today I'll be making peach pies to freeze and a quiche for later. For those who had a hard time with the dough I recommend using parchment paper. Dough can be rather sticky/tricky.

Easy to make. Very tasty.