How To Cook: |
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1. In a large, chilled bowl, combine the butter, lard, flour, sugar and salt. With your fingertips rub the flour and fat together until they look like flakes of coarse meal. Do not let the mixture become oily.
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2. Pour 3 tablespoons of ice water over the mixture all at once, toss together lightly and gather the dough into a ball. If the dough crumbles, add up to 1 tablespoon more ice water by drops until the particles adhere. Dust the pastry dough with a little flour and wrap it in wax paper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.
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3. To prepare a baked but unfilled or "blind" pie shell, spread 1 tablespoon of butter over the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie tin with a pastry brush.
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4. On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough into a rough circle about 1 inch thick. Dust a little flour over and under it and roll it out, from the center to within an inch of the far edge of the pastry. Lift the dough and turn it clockwise about 2 inches; roll again from the center to within an inch or so of the far edges.
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5. Repeat lifting, turning, rolling until the circle is about 1/8 inch thick and 13 to 14 inches in diameter. If the dough sticks to the board or table, lift it gently with a metal spatula and sprinkle a little flour under it.
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6. Drape the dough over the rolling pin, lift it up and unroll it slackly over the pie tin. With a pair of scissors, cut off the excess dough from the edges leaving a 1-inch overhang all around the outside rim. Chill for 1 hour.
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7. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread a sheet of buttered aluminum foil across the tin and press it gently into the edge to support the sides of the pastry as it bakes. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes, then remove the foil.
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8. Prick the pastry with the point of a small knife (it will puff up in places as it bakes), then return it to the oven for 10 minutes, or until it begins to brown. Remove it from the oven and let it cool.
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