Mr. Meow refuses to let me buy pre-made pie shells, tells me to make them myself since we have a chunk of lard at home. Bloody hell. I've always been intimidated by doughs - bread doughs, tart/pie doughs, puff pastry doughs...not sure why, I think doughs require some sort of magic to make it work I guess. But since there is no Tenderflake to help me, but a chunk of lard staring longingly at me, I will satisfy the lard.
Stupidest question I've ever asked Mr. Meow: "Do you want a lard pie shell or a butter pie shell?"
Mr. Meow being all things buttery good: "Butter shell!"
Mr. Meow not realizing that I'm just asking to obtain approval: "But then I'd have to defrost the butter! We're using lard!"
Mr. Meow pointing out my stupidity: "Then why did you give me a choice?"
Meow teaching Mr. Meow something about women: "Sometimes you just need to look around and then figure out all you have to do is tell me what I wanna hear."
I got a pat on the head. *sigh*
Preamble
Fruit pies usually require a thickening agent to hold the filling together. Flour will give a cloudy filling, while cornstarch and tapioca flour will give a clear one. If using flour to thicken, it is usually double of the amount of cornstarch or tapioca flour.
Chilling the pie before baking is crucial because the fats in the shell will become solid and not cook as fast as the flour giving the flour a head start. Warm fats will make the pie a fail and not the flaky shell that you're hoping for. Though chilling the pie too long will allow the fruit juices and sugars to pool at the bottom soaking your pie crust, which is also a fail.
Chilling the pie before eating is a good thing too because it will allow the fruit to reabsorb some of the sugars in the filling.
from Sur la Table: Art and Soul of Baking
On to pie making.
None of my recipe books have a recipe that uses lard and lard isn't one of those things that you can use instead of butter. So, I followed the recipe on the box of NoName Lard.
Basic Pie/Tart Shell
227 g of lard, chilled
343 g of all purpose flour
1 tsp of salt
1 egg
2 tsp of white vinegar
water
