This tender flaky lard pie crust recipe is straight from my great grandma’s recipe box. It practically melts in your mouth.
If the perfect pie crust is on your baking bucket list, you have to give this recipe a try. After a long search, we finally have my great grandma’s recipe for the pie crust she was so famous for.
Luckily we are all the beneficiaries of her decades of experience. Please give it a try for yourself.
Is there a certain food that instantly makes you think of your grandmother? For my mom, that food is pie.
Her dad’s mother lived in rural Indiana. So visiting was always such a treat for her and her Chicago suburbanite siblings.
My mom has tried so many pie crusts over the years trying to find one that rivals hers. She has stumbled upon some good ones like her flaky pie crust and even a chocolate pie crust.
Even though they were absolutely great, they just weren’t grandma’s pie crust. Then finally she got the recipe from her cousin.
We finally had it! So you think there would be instant pie, right?
Not quite.
Good Lard Makes All of the Difference
The key to a great pie crust is using good ingredients. There are so few things in there, the flavor of each one makes a big difference.
My mom remembers going with her grandma to the butcher to get the lard for her crust. She said “if you don’t have the right lard, it’s not worth making a pie.”
Leaf lard is the most prized lard around. It is super white and sourced from around the kidneys and loins of the pig.
So we waited until we had the good stuff. MiMi rendered leaf lard from pigs they raised on their little homestead farm.
It was finally time to make a pie. And it was worth the wait.
Of course you don’t have to render your own. Leaf lard is available, you may just need to put in a little effort to find it.
Good has a clean flavor and makes the flakiest pastry. It is worth going out of your way to find the good stuff.
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Lard, Really?
Yes! Lard actually has a lot of advantages over other fats you could use in your pastry.
Lard blends easily, chills nicely and has such a silky feel in your hands as you work with the dough. It creates such perfect flakes in the crust.
It is easier to work with cold than butter and doesn’t melt as quickly. Plus it has less saturated fat and no trans fats unlike shortening.
Tips for a Flaky Crust
Getting a flaky crust depends on more than just using lard. Of course there are more tricks you can have in your arsenal.
The first is the temperature of your ingredients. Using cold lard and water will help keep the fat from melting before you are ready.
Chilling the dough before you roll it and again before you bake it also helps. I like to pat it into disks before I chill it.
That makes it chill more evenly and you have a head start on rolling it out vs. chilling it as a ball. Of course working it as little as possible will help as well.
No Soggy Bottoms
The notes on my great grandma’s recipe say to preheat a cookie sheet with the oven. Put the pie pan on the hot sheet pan.
The pan will not only catch any drips, but will also apply even heat across the bottom of the pie. It will help prevent that dreaded soggy bottom.
It’s Pie Time!
I used this crust to make my great-grandma’s apple pie. That recipe is coming in a couple of days.
It is the gold standard of pie’s in my mom’s eyes. She drove across town in snow and subzero temperatures to have a slice. Of course now we love it too.
This pie would also make a great pot pie. Whip some up to make an extra tasty creamy chicken pot pie or ham and cheese pot pie.
I can imagine great-grandma loving a good old fashioned sour cream and raisin pie. Or whip up a fun oatmeal pie for another fun treat.
Don’t forget to save those scraps and turn them into cinnamon sugar pie crust cookies! That is a great reward for making your own crust.
What is the secret to a good pie crust?
There are two secrets that make a super tender crust:
The first is keeping it nice and cold. Start with cold water and lard and refrigerate the crust again before you bake it.
The second is to work the dough as little as possible. Working the dough too much develops the gluten and makes for a tougher crust.
Lard Pie Crust
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ cup lard leaf lard if possible
- 3 to 4 Tablespoons cold water
Instructions
Making the Dough
- Stir together 1½ cups all purpose flour and 1 pinch salt.
- Cut in ½ cup lard until you have a crumbly mixture.
- Add just enough ice cold water to make it come together into a dough.
- Pat into a flat disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill at least a half hour.
- Roll into a thin circle and fit into your pie pan.
- For the flakiest crust, put the crust lined pie plate back in the refrigerator for another 15 minutes. Or go ahead and proceed to bake according to your pie filling's instructions.
Blind Baking the Crust
- To bake the pie shell without fillings, preheat oven to 425°F.
- Prick the crust a few times with a fork, then line with parchment paper or foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake 12 minutes.
- Carefully remove paper or foil and weights then ake 8 to 10 minutes more for a partially baked crust, or for a fully baked crust 10 to 12 minutes longer until golden brown.
Notes
- This is enough for a single pie crust. Double the recipe for a double crust pie.
- You can make pie crust dough ahead of time if you want. Store the disk of wrapped dough in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze it up to three months. Defrost frozen dough in the refrigerator overnight before using.
- Using a good quality rendered lard will make for the best pie crust. If it's not by the shortening or butter, you may ask at the meat counter or at a local butcher shop.
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Instead of lard can we use butter
I am allergic
Sure. Butter or shortening are both options for making pie crust.
Excited to try this with some home-rendered lard for a meat pie. Do you know if this dough would freeze well? And how would you freeze it?
It should freeze great. I would pat it into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap then put it in the freezer. Just allow it to defrost in the refrigerator overnight the day before you plan to use it. I hope you enjoy it, pie crust is such a great way to use that home-rendered lard. What do you usually do with the rest of your lard? We will have a new batch soon too!
@Carlee,
Wow did this ever turn out great, thank you Grandmother for passing this recipe on. It’s so quick and easy to make and it was so crispy and flaky. This was my first time making pie ever.
For a pork filled pie, I baked it at 375F for 45 mins or so to get that nice brown crust (I used the excess dough to put a very thin and skimpy top on the pie.) The filling recipe was from a guy named Ricardo’s website.
I used my first ever batch of rendered lard for this, I wasn’t sure I did the it right but it turned out perfect. It definitely wasn’t leaf fat, it was just excess back fat etc from a friend’s pasture-raised pig. And my slow cooker’s “warm” setting was still hot enough to cook the fat and impart a super porky (and delicious) flavour. So this batch of lard is going exclusively to meat pies, tortillas and other savoury dishes, plus frying and seasoning cast iron. 5 lbs of fat gave 3 pints of lard, I probably could have gotten more but I didn’t know when it was done.
Thanks again for my new go-to pie crust recipe. I did double the recipe and freeze one portion, when I use it I’ll try to remember to give feedback.
Cheers from Nova Scotia.
YAY! I am so glad you liked it! I am going to have to check out that pie filling. Thank you for coming back and letting me know how it went.
I tried making this with the jars that I could get at my local grocery store but it ended up tasting a bit like bacon. Not in a bad way, but not in way that pairs well with with a dessert pie.
Is the reason to use leaf lard because it has a neutral flavor, or does all lard taste a bit like pork?
It must be the kind of lard. Without a lot of other ingredients to mask it, a strong flavored lard would definitely be able to be tasted in the final pastry. It sounds like it would be great for a pot pie pastry though, or use the lard to make fried potatoes or to fry eggs in.
Is it okay to double the recipe? I know some recipes doubling doesn’t work as well so I wanted to make sure first!
This recipe multiplies easily, so go ahead and scale up. Happy baking!
My grandmother always told me that lard made all the difference in a pie crust, but I never realized how right she was, until I made a peach pie, using this recipe this past summer. We had purchased a butchered pig, and one of the things they asked if we wanted was the lard. Thankfully, I was there to say yes when my husband said no. Neither one of us could believe how incredibly this or crust just melts in your mouth! I actually made another pie, intentionally using half butter and half lard because I thought it was a fluke, but it wasn’t. That crust was disappointing, and as soon as I made, yes, a third pie, using only lard as the fat in the crust, it was back to mouthwatering, melts-in-your-mouth goodness. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!! (Side note – alllllllll my pie crusts before this gave me trouble, but this recipe I managed to roll out and put in the pie plate beautifully! So if you struggle with pie crusts, give this a whirl! You’ll be glad you did!!)
That makes me so happy! I agree, it’s the most tender pie crust I’ve ever made. I’ve never much liked making my own crust pastry but now it seems wrong not to. Thank you so much for trying the recipe and letting me know how much you enjoy it!
@Elisabeth, I’m so glad you shared this. The recipe above is from my grandma. After years of searching for her recipe I gave up on trying to find a crust that wasn’t disappointing. It turns out my cousin had it. I actually cried when Carlee made this for me. Just like I remember it!!
@Elisabeth, Your comment gave me some renewed hope for this pie crust challenged grandma! It just frustrates me so much that last time I made one it kept sticking to marble rolling pin and cracking even though I kept floured. I ended up just patting it into the pie pan. I am so determined to master this! I had used a recipe that was butter and leaf lard so I will use this recipe now. If anyone is looking where to buy leaf lard I buy mine from Etsy. Fannie & Flow is the name of their business. Hope that’s ok to mention here. Lol, I use it almost everyday! Fry my eggs and I’ve been known to take a dap for my hands and sometimes my face! 🙂
Good tip about getting leaf lard from Etsy. I would have never thought to look there. Pie crust is tricky, but worth it once you get it to go!
I bet your great grandma would love to know that you are making her pie crust using the very best lard ever rendered.
I am sure she would.
I really need to try this. Pie Crust is not one of my baking fortes. My mother always bought pie crust and I think that that led me to believe that it must be difficult to make so I kind of have a mental block against making it. Thank you for the recipe.
I would like to get better at pie crusts as well. They really are pretty simple, I’m just not that great at making them pretty.
@Carlee, It’s nice if you can make them look pretty but it’s really all about the taste
That’s true!
It means so much to me to have tasted my grandma’s pie crust again after so many years. After tasting it I felt like my grandma gave me a hug to go with it. It’s perfect!!!
I am so glad we were finally able to make it!
Absolutely the best. The tip about heating the sheet pan is pure genius. Could this be the end of soggy pie crust?
Hopefully!
There’s nothing like a good, flaky lard crust and this one is perfect! There is something about lard that definitely adds to the flakiness and that’s how I make my crust most of the time! Saving this recipe. Well, I save the majority of your recipes, lol
Thank you so much! I’ll be honest, I normally just buy a crust and make the filling. But now that I know how good it can be, I am going to have to start making my own!
@Carlee,
How long would you bake this crust for a cream pie?
I’d go 375F for about 14 minutes. Maybe a few more depending on your oven.