IMPOSSIBLY EASY PIE CRUST

Impossibly Easy Pie Crust image

This is a perfect pie crust recipe for anyone to use. You CAN NOT screw it up, it will work every time, and you will love it. I refuse to allow you to fail.

Provided by GondolaQueen

Time 45m

Yield 2 double crust pies

Number Of Ingredients 8

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour (or pastry flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 3/4 cups cold lard (or butter, but I prefer lard)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2-3/4 cup ice cold water

Steps:

Sift all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Using a fork, two knives, your fingers or a pastry blender, cut the lard into the flour mixture until the lard is completely incorporated to small pea sized pieces.
*Work quickly, as it is important that the lard stay cold, and not begin melting. Cold lard means flaky pastry. Melt-y lard means mushy gross pastry. Keep that in mind.*.
In a small bowl, beat egg and vinegar with a 1/2 cup of cold water.
* The egg will help to "raise" the dough as it cooks. Not everyone uses egg in their pastry. I do. This is why you WON'T fail here.*.
Drizzle your COLD water/ egg mixture (remember the cold lard?) into the flour/ lard and using your free hand and a fork, "pull" the dry ingredients from the outer edge of the bowl towards the drizzle of liquid.
When you have gotten all the Egg/ water in, squish the dough down lightly to "force" the dry and wet together more.
* Do this without kneeding. Don't kneed. I forbid this action.*.
Flip the dough over, exposing the dry bits on the bottom of the bowl. Drizzle a small portion of the left over cold water to dampen the dry ingredients.
Fold the dough over on itself 1 time, and push firmly into the bottom of the bowl.
* remember what I said about kneeding? Still don't do it.*.
Using your fingers, imagine a 'cross' on the top of the dough, marking four (4) sections apart.
Lay out four (4) sheets of plastic wrap, and place one (1) section of the dough on each sheet of the wrap, wrapping tightly, and squishing into a disc. Put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to 'refirm' the lard.
When your dough has solidified again, but you can still roll it, unwrap your plastic wrap, and lay it out flat. Place another piece of plastic on top, sandwiching the dough between them. Using your rolling pin, simply turn, roll, turn, roll until you have the size/ thickness you like.
* Because you used the plastic wrap, you also don't have to scrape a bunch of sticky pastry dough off your counter or table. Awesome.*.
I included "Cooking" time as the "Fridge" time.