Pie Dough

The Rules for Making Pie Pastry

1. All utensils and bowls should be clean and dry.
2. Use ice water in dough. To make: fill a 2-cup liquid measure with 1-1/2 cups cold water, add a few ice cubes, and store in the freezer while you prep the pastry ingredients.
3. Spoon sifted all-purpose flour into a half-cup measure, level, then add to the bowl. Continue till you have enough for your recipe.
4. If using butter, it must be cold.
5. When rolling dough, place the dough round on a lightly floured surface. Add a little more flour if the dough sticks when rolling. Always roll from the centre of the dough out to the edge, lift and start from the centre again.  Don't roll back-and-forth or the pastry will be tough.

Diane's Pastry for 1 Single Crust Pie

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup lard
• 3-5 Tbsp cold water

1. In a bowl, mix flour & salt.
2. Cut in lard until it resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Sprinkle in the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until pastry holds together.
4. Shape into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes to 1 hour.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to fit a 10 inch pie plate.
6. Flute edges, fill and bake as pie recipe directs.

Never-Fail Pie Crust #1

Makes a flaky crust. Pastry dough keeps in the refrigerator, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, till you need it. Take out of fridge to come to room temperature before using.

• 4 cups all-purpose white flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1-1/2 cups lard (Tenderflake) OR 1-3/4 cups vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1/2 cup cold water

1. Sift 4 c. flour, 1 tsp. sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. baking powder into a large bowl.
2. Using a pastry blender, mix with 1-3/4 cup shortening or 1-1/2 cups lard.
3. In a measuring cup, mix 1/2 cup very cold water with 1 well-beaten egg. Mix in 1 tsp vinegar.
4. Stirring with a fork, add liquid to the flour mixture, and use your hands to form the dough.
5. Divide dough into 4 equal portions, form rounds, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.
6. Take cold dough from the fridge to come to near-room temperature before rolling.

Never-fail Pie Crust #2

Makes 3 pastry crusts

• 1-1/2 cups vegetable shortening
• 3 cups all-purpose white flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vinegar
• 5 Tbsp. cold water

1. Mix together shortening, flour and salt.
2. Beat together egg, vinegar and water.
3. Add liquid a little at a time to blend and follow steps 4-6 as in Pie Crust #1.

Butter and Shortening Double Crust Pie Dough

This is Boston pastry chef Louise Miller's recipe for a double crust mixed in a food processor. Makes enough dough for a deep dish 9" pie.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3 Tbsp solid vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
• 6 Tbsp (or more) ice water

1. In a food processor, pulse together 3 cups flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 12 Tbsp unsalted butter, 3 Tbsp shortening until mixture looks golden and resembles coarse cornmeal.
2. Pour flour mixture into a large bowl.
3. Add  the 3 Tbsp ice water a tablespoon at a time, lightly fluffing the mixture with your fingers, until the dough just begins to come together. Squeeze a little dough in your hand and if it clumps do not add more water.
4. Gather dough into a ball, divide into two pieces, flatten into 2 discs, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
5. Roll out dough 1 disc at a time. Don't use too much flour (add a bit more if the dough is sticking to the table, but once added you can't take it away.) Never roll pastry dough using a back-and-forth motion, always work from the centre and roll out to keep from working the gluten too much.
6. Use one rolled out dough disc to line a 9" deep dish pie pan.
7. Place the second rolled-out dough disc on a cookie sheet.
8. Place both discs back in the refrigerator to rest until filling the pie.
9. Before filling, brush the pastry bottom lining the pie plate with beaten egg white.

Perfect Tenderflake Pastry

My mom is known for her light, flaky pastry. Yesterday, when I visited, she was measuring out flour to make butter tarts and cherry tartlets for Diane's school's staff "treat of the week."

Whenever I bring these to a potluck supper, these tarts quickly disappear. Maybe because they're bite-sized, you think you can have just one. Then another. Maybe three....

Here's the secret to Marilyn's delicate, flaky pastry:

Prepare the pastry dough, according to recipe directions.

Spread a clean, flowered cotton tablecloth over your countertop or kitchen table.

Sprinkle flour over the cloth, and on your rolling pin.

Roll the dough until you can just see the flowers on the cloth through the pastry itself.

The pastry dough should be thin enough to be somewhat translucent, but still thick enough not to tear apart when you lift it onto the pie plate.

(I use Norm's large BBQ spatula or a metal pizza peel to lift the pastry dough.)

Once you learn how thin you should roll your tart and pastry dough, you can switch to using parchment paper instead of the patterned cloth, but washing and reusing the cloth will save you buying parchment paper over the years. 

The pastry recipe my mom has used for years is printed on boxes of Maple Leaf Tenderflake Lard.

This lard is available in Canadian grocery stores and is non-hydrogenated.

I always cut off the measuring tab on the yellow paper box and keep it in my baking drawer as it's a convenient guide for measuring butter, too.

Tenderflake Perfect Pastry in 6 Easy Steps

Yields three 9-inch double crust pies or 6 pie shells. Unused portions can be wrapped and refrigerated or frozen.

• 5-1/2 cups (1.4L) all-purpose flour OR 6 cups (1.5L) cake and pastry flour
• 2 tsp (10 mL) salt
• 1 lb (454g) lard
• 1 Tbsp. white vinegar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Cold water

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt.
2. Cut in lard with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse oatmeal.
3. In a 1 cup (250 mL) measure, combine vinegar and egg. Add cold water to make 1 cup. Gradually stir liquid into flour/lard mixture, adding only enough water to make dough cling together.
4. Gather into a ball and divide into 6 portions. Wrap portions you will not use right away and refrigerate or freeze.
5. Roll out each portion on lightly floured surface. If dough is sticking, chill 1 to 2 hours.
6. Transfer dough to pie plate. Trim and flute shells or crusts and bake according to your recipe.

Food Processor Butter & Lard Pie Dough

Makes one double-crust 9-inch (23 cm pie)

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/3 cup cold lard, cubed
• 1/2 cup cold water (approx)

In food processor, blend flour with salt.

Pulse in butter and lard until coarse crumbs with a few larger pieces.

Continue to pulse, drizzling in water until a ragged dough forms.

Add up to 1 tsp more water if necessary.
Divide in half and shape into discs.

Wrap each and refrigerate until chilled,, about 30 minutes.

If making ahead, refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month.