leaf lard and butter pie crust recipe, the best thing to ever happen to your homemade pies.

Pie crust used to be merely a way to serve meat with its sauce or juices. It was a hard, tough, inedible thing. Basically, a vessel, a container. Not meant to eat (at least not by the lords and ladies). Recipes for the crust of these pies didn’t appear in cookbooks until the 16th century.

Like most things, the roots of pie can be traced back to the Egyptians, those clever pyramid builders! Of course they were constructing pies! This was in the new stone age, 9500 BC, also around the time they were domesticating plants and animals. They called these early, rustic pies Galettes and filled them with honey. Also made with oats, barley or rye, they were a portable form of nutrition.

Pie eventually spread like wildfire. The Romans stole the concept of adding fat to the then-flour-and-water hard shell from the Greeks, inventing what we now know as pastry. Wherever there was a roman road, there was pie.

English women were baking pies long before The Mayflower, The Nina, The Pinta and The Santa Maria. But these were meat pies.

So, who can we thank for the fruit pies we know and love today? The pilgrims. First, they baked them with the berries and the fruits the Indians marked as “safe for eating”. Then, they started making them round and shallow to stretch ingredients. somewhere in this mix the ever-resourceful Shakers (and later, the Amish) got involved. Making all manner of pies, including: Shaker Lemon, Hoosier, Buttermilk and Vinegar Pie. All these pies are great examples of taking what you have, stretching it, and manipulating it into something delicious.

I love pie. I love making pie. You can hear me wax poetic about it with the fabulous Evan Kleiman on The Best of 2009 Good Food. Pie making isn’t precious. For some reason it causes some folks to break out in a cold sweat. But pie making is just like making any other recipe: if you can follow directions, you can make a pie. And you should. There’s nothing more rewarding then pulling a fresh baked pie out of the oven, and when the smell of warm fruit and pie crust wafts out, even the most crabby and curmudgeonly swoon.

The following is my recipe for Leaf Lard and Butter Pie Crust. It’s made in your food processor. It freezes well (up to six months) and it’s perfect for sweet or savory pies. Don’t stress about this crust. Just take your time, pick your favorite fruit, and get ready for delicious wafts of goodness.

xo,
rachael

Directions

1. Measure out 10 T of leaf lard into a freezer safe bowl, place the lard into your freezer until you’re ready to use it.
2. Measure out 8 T of cold water into a glass measuring cup, add the cider vinegar and place the measuring cup into the freezer until you’re ready to use it.
3. In a food processor, combine the four, salt and baking powder.
4. Pulse 2-3 times to combine.
5. Add the cold butter in chunks and pulse 7-8 times.
6. At this point the mixture should look like coarse meal.

1. Add the frozen lard and pulse 7-10 more times.
2. Do not over pulse. You’re looking for different sized pieces of butter and lard.
3. Pour in the water & cider vinegar mixture and pulse to combine. The mixture will look like biscuit dough. It will be crumbly but hold its shape when formed into a ball.
4. Set out two pieces of plastic wrap 18″ long on your kitchen counter.
5. Divide the mixture in half between the two sheets.
6. Form into a round disk with your hands.
7. Cover in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before using. At this point you can also freeze the plastic wrapped dough for up to 6 months. To use frozen dough, defrost in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours or overnight before using.

A few notes about this recipe:
*The Wooly Pigs leaf lard I buy comes in a big tub. It lasts a really long time. But i like to measure it out and keep little baggies of it frozen for when the need for pie hits me. It’s worth the money, the drive, the shipping costs, the hunt. It’s worth whatever you have to do to get it. It’ll make the best pie crust and biscuits of your life.

**You can also freeze the flour. I do this if it’s really hot outside. Measure all your dry ingredients into a freezer bag and freeze for at least an hour or up to 6 months.

***If it looks too dry, keep adding a tablespoon of very cold water until it sticks together when pinched.

Happy baking,
Rachael