A perfect pie dough thanks to O' Canada. Lard & butter for a delicious crust. (Vegan/Vegetarian substitutes in notes.
Course dough
Cuisine Canadian
Keyword pie dough recipe
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Servings 6crusts
Calories 711kcal
Author Karen Bertelsen
Equipment
Food processor (optional)
Ingredients
5½cupsall purpose flour
2teaspoonsalt
½poundlardcold and cubed
½poundbuttercold and cubed
1tablespoonvinegar
1egglightly beaten
Ice Water
Instructions
Whisk together flour and salt* then cut in butter and lard with a food processor or pastry blender. Cut dough until it's crumbly but fat pieces are still pea sized or so. (If your food processor is small, you'll have to do this recipe in 2 batches because it'll be too much for your machine)
Add your egg and vinegar to a measuring cup and then top it up with ice water until you have 1 cup of liquid.
Add liquid to the dry ingredients in a slow stream just until dough comes together. You may not need all the liquid.
Dump the contents onto a large piece of plastic wrap then fold the plastic in towards the dough repeatedly until a ball forms. Try not to touch the dough with your warm hands.
Divide the dough into 6 balls. (if you made a half recipe, then divide into 3 balls)
Wrap dough in plastic and flatten them into discs. Refrigerate for at least half an hour before rolling out. This is also the point that you can put the dough directly in the freezer for using later.
When you're ready to make PIE! roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Drop it into your aluminum pie pan, flute the edges and bake however your recipe requires.
Notes
*Want to really take your crust up to an impressive level? Add ¼ teaspoon of spice per dough ball. For instance if you're making the full recipe for 6 balls of dough, you'd add 1.5 tsps of spice to the dough. Just add it to the dry mixture of flour and salt. Cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin spice are good choices for apple or pumpkin pie. Thyme or celery seed are good choices for savoury pies. Work within the herbs/spice combinations used in your filling recipe.Vegan and Vegetarian VersionSubstitute lard with vegetable shorteningSubstitute butter with vegan butterOmit egg. Confession
I actually prefer a ratio of 60% lard and 40% butter, but half and half is just so much easier to measure out and remember.