Pie Crust (Old Fashioned Lard) – and Mini-pies

This recipe is one I modified slightly from one in my mom’s recipe box; it is originally from my grandmother.  It is southern, and contains lard.  It is the most flakey pie crust I have ever encountered, just don’t feed it to your kosher vegetarian friends.

Finding lard has proven difficult, but Eataly in NY has it, and high end butchers seem to have it.  Make sure it is refined, if it smells too much like bacon, don’t use it.

I actually will not make a habit of this, lard kind of freaks me out.  (I was a vegetarian for a very long time).

1.0 Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 688 grams       _______________ All-Purpose Flour (5 ¹⁄₂ Cups)
• 2 Tsps ____________________ salt
• 1 TBSP ____________________sugar
• 345 grams _________________ lard
• 72 grams __________________ butter
• 2 ________________________ eggs
• 1 TBSP ___________________ vinegar

Instructions:

• Mix the flour and sugar, and salt together in a food processor
• Blend.
• Add in the Lard and Butter.  (You really want 417 grams of fat – or about 2 cups, whatever ratio you want)
• Blend, till it’s nice and sandy looking.
• Add in the eggs.
• Pulse till it starts to combine – drizzle in the vinegar.
• Scrape out, onto plastic wrap.
• Chill in the fridge for a while.
• This makes a huge amount, so divide into a few pieces if you want.

2.0 Pear & Quince Pie

Ingredients:

• Pie crust
• (I made a bunch of tiny, and small pies, but you can make one big one, about a quarter of the above dough for bottom only pie, or half for a covered pie.  This filling recipe is for some small pies, so you should double this for one big pie.)
• 2 ____________________ Pears
• 2 ____________________ Quinces
• 1 tsps   ________________ cinnamon
• ¹⁄₄ Cups_______________ lemon juice
• ¹⁄₄ Cups_______________ sugar
• 1 TBSP _________________ cornstarch
• 1 _____________________ egg

Instructions:

• Pre-heat the oven to 400° F
• Peel and dice the pears and quinces.
• Covering with lemon juice as you cut up the pears and quince.
• Sprinkle the sugar and cornstarch, and cinnamon over the fruit and mix in.
• Roll out the pie crust, and place in an oiled pie tin (or several small ones).
• Dock the crust (poke holes).
• Fill with the filling.
• Roll out another piece of dough, and cut some decorative patterns in it – or just cut holes.
• Carefully transfer onto the filled pie.
• Crimp the sides, with your fingers.
• Beat an egg, with some water to make an egg wash.
• Egg wash the pie crust.
• Place in the oven, on the bottom rack.
• Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350, and bake for another 20 minutes.
• Move to the top rack, and bake for another 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
• Total baking time is about 55 minutes.  Bake for less time if you don’t cover the top.
• Cool completely before cutting.  You may also want to put it in the fridge for a bit before cutting.  It is soooo flakey.

I also made some berry ones, but that filling is just berries, some sugar, and some cornstarch.