I Dare You I Double Dare You To Make Your Own Pie Crust

Writen by Bonita Anderson

There is much to be said about the phrase home made. Sure some people can say they made it themselves, but it really is not home made if a store bought pie crust is used. Of course that is my personal opinion. If you make something at home I guess you could say it was home made. I should probably use the phrase, made from scratch.

I am as guilty as the next person. I tried recipe after recipe but I could not get the taste I remembered in a pie crust. One would say use oil, while another would call for shortening. Still others would say to use a combination of both and add an egg. They all said to use cold water and roll out on a lightly floured surface to the desired size and thickness.

Every time I would roll out the dough it would stick to the floured surface. If I put more flour than was called for the dough would get dry and break before I got it to the pan. If I re-rolled it and did manage to put it in the pan and bake my pie, the crust was tough and hard as cardboard. I was getting disgusted because I have an antique cupboard with an enamel surface that is perfect for kneading bread on. My great grandmother had the same cupboard and her pies were perfect.

So I gave up on recipes again and started experimenting. After numerous disasters and a few close calls I finally hit a home run with this formula. I use lard, not shortening and all purpose unbleached flour. Measure 2-cups flour into a bowl and 1/4-teaspoon salt. With a pastry blender cut in 1/2-cup cold lard until it looks like coarse cornmeal. Then add another 1/2-cup cold lard and cut it in until the lard is the size of peas. Then sprinkle over that mixture 1/4-cup of ice water-1-tablespoon at a time and mix the dough with your hands. When the dough forms a ball cover it and refrigerate it for at least 1/2-hour.

Now you will have a dough that you can use a lot of flour to roll it out with. It should not stick to anything and if you have to re-roll it, it will not be tough as cardboard. So go ahead I dare you!

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Everything I write about is from personal observation and life experiences. I love to cook and prepare foods in different ways. I like sharing my experiences about food and cooking. My website http://www.pothaven.com was created because of my interest in quality cookware and cooking.