Flakey Lard Pie Crust & Pumpkin Pie from Scratch

The key to making tender, flakey pie crust from scratch is to use leaf lard.

Lard from pasture raised pigs is great for your health. You may have been brainwashed to think that lard is bad for you, but science is showing that vegetable oils are what is bad for you. Unlike hydrogenated vegetable oils, which is what most American pastries are made from, lard is actually good for you. Your body knows how to use it. Lard from pasture raised pigs is the second highest natural source of vitamin D.

What is leaf lard, you ask?

There are two types of fat on a pig. The majority of the fat is back fat. When back fat is rendered, it is very much like bacon grease. Back fat lard (usually just called "lard") is great for general cooking and body care products like soap and salve. Leaf lard, on the other hand, is from the internal body cavity. It is firmer and whiter than back fat lard and has less porky flavor. Because of its firm texture and neutral flavor, leaf lard is ideal for making pastries.

Here is my recipe for creamy pumpkin pie that contains all natural, whole ingredients. You won't feel guilty eating my pumpkin pie!

Thanks to Alan at the Newport farmer's market for this perfect little pie pumpkin!

Pie Crust with Leaf Lard

The trick to flakey pastry crust is to have large granules of fat incorporated into the dough. A granule of fat that gets squashed as you roll out the dough becomes a flake in the baked crust. To put it another way, if you used liquid oil to make pastry crust, the crust will not have any flakes because there are no granules of firm fat squished in it.

Each one of these lard granules will become a flake in the finished crust.

Therefore, you want to preserve the texture of the leaf lard as you make the dough. This involves keeping the lard cold so that it does not melt, and not overworking the dough so that you don't lose the granules. If you are making a crust on a warm summer day, take extra care to keep everything cold--don't let that lard melt!

Avoid overworking the dough. Handle it as little as possible, so that the strands of gluten don't develop and become tough. That is the key to crust that is tender.

This recipe is for a single crust for a 9 inch pie. Double the amounts to make a double crust or a larger pie.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup leaf lard, kept cold

3 - 4 tbs ice cold water

Directions:

Put some water in a bowl with a few ice cubes.

Mix the flour and salt in a medium sized bowl.

Add the cold leaf lard to the flour and cut it in with a pastry cutter or butter knives. Do not over stir the lard, you want to preserve pea sized granules in the dough.

Add 1 tablespoon of ice cold water and stir it in with a fork. Do not add all the water at once because it would make a wet lump. The goal is to make a dough that has just enough water to hold it together and not be soggy. After that first water is fully mixed in, add another tablespoon and mix it in, and so on until you have added enough water that the dough holds together. Use as little water as possible. Form the dough into a ball.

Cover the dough and put it in the fridge to chill for at least an hour. You can make the dough a few days ahead of time; be sure to wrap it well.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Large pumpkins that are commonly used for carving at Halloween may be made into pumpkin pie, but if you don't want a lot more pumpkin than is needed for your filling, use one of the smaller pie pumpkins that are about 6 inches in diameter. Pie pumpkins have been selected for good flavor, while carving pumpkins are bred more for looks.

Ingredients:

2 cups pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1/2 to 1 cup maple syrup

1 cup from the top of a jar of raw milk, which has the cream

~or~

1 cup of half n half

2 tbs flour

1/2 tsp each salt, cinnamon, nutmeg

1/4 tsp clove

Directions:

To prepare a pumpkin, snap off the stem, cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the halves on a baking sheet in a 350F oven for about an hour, or until a fork is able to stab into it without resistance.

Let it cool enough to handle. Scoop the flesh out of the skin and place it in a blender to puree. You may need to add the liquid ingredients to your blender to get it to puree, in which case you should measure out two cups of pumpkin prior to pureeing.

Mix all ingredients well.

Assembling the Pie

When it's time to assemble the pie, sprinkle some flour on the counter, put the chilled dough on the flour, and sprinkle a little more flour on the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough in a circle big enough to fit in your pie dish (12 inches for a 9 inch dish). Turn the dough a couple of times and sprinkle more flour as needed to prevent sticking while rolling it out.

Gently fold the crust in quarters and lift it onto the pie dish. Unfold it and shape it nicely. A classic way to work the edge is to tuck the edges of the crust under around the rim so that it's double thick, then use the tines of a fork to press the crust into the rim of the dish making little fork impressions as you go. My pie dish has scalloped edges, so I flute the edge to follow that pattern.

To prevent the edge of the crust from burning while the filling cooks through, create a shield from foil or parchment paper. Cut a square that is larger than the entire pie by a couple of inches. Fold it in quarters and cut out a hole that when it's unfolded, will be smaller than the rim of the pie pan. In other words, create a shield that covers the edge of the pie crust while allowing heat to get to the filling in the middle. Unfold the shield and place it over the pie. (I did not do that for this pie, but if burning is a concern, then you should. It's more likely to happen if you have a thin metal pie pan and the rim sticks out away from the filling.)

Bake the pie for 40 minutes in a preheated 350F oven, then remove the shield. Cook another 5 to 20 minutes till the filling is set. It should be slightly domed in the middle.

Allow it to cool slightly before serving. It is amazing with a cold glass of raw milk.

Would you like to have a holiday feast filled with foods that are nourishing and don't make you feel guilty?

Buy my leaf lard!