I love all deserts, but especially pie. However pie with crust is not something I learned how to make growing up. We just didn’t eat it much. Now that we raise our own hogs and render our own lard (though you can use store bought) I am always looking for ways to use the lard. Recently these two desires came together in this delightfully flakey homemade pie crust with lard.
All of this might have started with watching old movies and reading old books where they talked about using lard to make the lightest biscuits or pie crust. So I thought why not make my own homemade flakey pie crust with lard. This is by far the best flakey pie crust recipe.
So What Makes It So Flakey?
The lard. It is that simple. The lard actually makes the gluten strands shorter which is why it got its name as shortening. This makes for a dough that is not chewy but flakey.
Can I Use Butter Instead of Lard in this Flakey Homemade Pie Crust Recipe?
Yes and no. Yes you can substitute it out for butter, but no it will not be quite the same. Butter does not have the shortening feature that lard does so it can be easy to make your curst chewy instead of flakey.
Can I Make This Dairy Free?
Yes just switch out the cultured buttermilk for cold water. However the cultured buttermilk does help to eat some of the gluten making it even more flakey so if you don’t have an issue with dairy leave it.
Can I Use Sour Cream Instead of Cultured Buttermilk?
Yes it works just as great as cultured buttermilk, just make sure your sour cream does not have a bunch of additives that might mess with the recipe.
Can I Make This Gluten Free?
Yes I have made this recipe gluten free once and it turned out well, just substitute out your all-purpose flour with GF 1-for-1 flour. It works great!
Does This Flakey Homemade Pie Crust Recipe Make Two or One Crusts?
This recipe makes enough dough to make both a top and a bottom crust.
Does Thie Pie Crust With Lard Work Well With Savory Pies?
Yes I have used this crust recipe in quiche several times and my family loves it. There is no sweetener of any kind in the crust recipe so it works well for either savory or sweet pies.
How To Make Blueberry Pie with Flakey Homemade Pie Crust With Lard
Flakey Homemade Pie Crust With Lard
One of the wonderful things about working with lard instead of butter is that it doesn’t have to be cold. Infact you want to work with room temperature lard.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups. All-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. Real Salt
1 cup. (8 oz.) Lard
1/2 cup. Cold cultured buttermilk (or powdered buttermilk)
Place your all-purpose flour and salt in a bowl and mix. Add in your room temperature lard and gently squeeze the lard and flour/salt mixture together until the lard is evenly distributed.
Pour the cultured buttermilk into the pie crust dough and gently mix until just combined. Place the dough into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Use this time to pre-heat your oven to 350 and get your filling ready.
Once chilled pull your flakey pie crust dough out of the refrigerator and cut in half. Place half of your dough into your pie plate and using your fingers press it out until it evenly covers your whole pie plate.
Roll out the remaining half of the dough on parchment paper and place aside while you fill your pie. Cut strips of the pie crust and either weave them in an over, under lattice pattern or do a faux lattice pattern like I did and just lay one layer of the strips over the other. Crimp around the edge with either a fork or your finger.
Place the pie in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Pull the pie out of the oven and place somewhere safe to cool.
Blueberry Pie Filling
Mix the following ingredients in a large bowl:
6 cups. Blueberries
2/3 cup. Sugar
1/4 cup. All-purpose flour
2 TBS. Tapioca Starch
2 TBS. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Lemon zest or 5 drops of lemon essential oil
Once all of the above ingredients are mixed well in a bowl place them into your pie crust, add the tops pie crust and bake.
Flakey Homemade Pie Crust with Lard
A pie crust to die for!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup. All-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup Lard
- 1/2 cup. Cultured Buttermilk
Instructions
- Place your all-purpose flour and salt in a bowl and mix. Add in your room temperature lard and gently squeeze the lard and flour/salt mixture together until the lard is evenly distributed.
- Pour the cultured buttermilk into the pie crust dough and gently mix until just combined. Place the dough into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Use this time to pre-heat your oven to 350 and get your filling ready.
- Once chilled pull your flakey pie crust dough out of the refrigerator and cut in half. Place half of your dough into your pie plate and using your fingers press it out until it evenly covers your whole pie plate.
- Roll out the remaining half of the dough on parchment paper and place aside while you fill your pie. Cut strips of the pie crust and either weave them in an over, under lattice pattern or do a faux lattice pattern like I did and just lay one layer of the strips over the other. Crimp around the edge with either a fork or your finger.
- Place the pie in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Pull the pie out of the oven and place somewhere safe to cool.
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the pie recipe works really well. it works well with gluten free all-purpose fluor and it taste really good!