Before vegetable shortening existed, every pie in Quebec was made with lard, and bakers have never found anything flakier. Lard's large fat crystals create layers that butter alone cannot, and it has no flavour of its own, so the filling leads.
Ingredients (two 23 cm crusts, or one double-crust pie)
- 625 ml (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 5 ml (1 tsp) salt
- 250 ml (1 cup) cold pure lard, cut in 1 cm cubes
- About 125 ml (1/2 cup) ice water
- Optional for sweet pies: 15 ml (1 tbsp) sugar and 5 ml (1 tsp) vinegar in the water for extra tenderness
Method
- Chill everything: the flour, the bowl, the lard, the water. Cold fat is the entire secret.
- Whisk flour and salt. Add the lard and cut it in with a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the largest pieces are the size of peas, with some flour still sandy.
- Sprinkle in the ice water a tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork. Stop as soon as the dough holds together when pressed. Wet dough is tough dough.
- Divide in two, press into discs, wrap and rest in the fridge at least 30 minutes (up to 3 days, or freeze 3 months).
- Roll on a lightly floured surface from the centre out, turning a quarter turn between strokes. Transfer to the pie plate, trim, and chill again 15 minutes before filling.
Blind baking
For cream or custard pies, line the chilled shell with parchment, fill with dried beans, bake at 200 °C (400 °F) 15 minutes, remove the beans and bake 8 to 10 minutes more until pale gold.
We make ours with Premium Pure Lard: one ingredient, no hydrogenation, no deodorizing. It is the fat behind our tourtière.
From Rise Nutrition
Try it for 30 days.
Pure lard from Canadian pork. Ships from Canada · Free shipping over $45 · 30-day money-back.
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