Hot Water Pastry

A hot-water crust made with lard, meant to be mixed ahead and held cold until needed. It behaves nothing like a cold-butter pastry, and the differences matter more than the short instructions suggest.

• The hinge: work it warm, bake it coldThe hot water melts the fat and the flour is worked into a warm emulsion rather than a cold one, which is why the dough turns out pliable rather than flaky. Combine while the fat mixture is still warm and creamy, then let it firm up in the cold before rolling, as the recipe directs.
• "Scant teaspoon"Slightly under a level teaspoon. With only 1/2 cup liquid in three cups of flour, there is little for the baking powder to lift; a small amount of it in a pastry of this kind is presumably there to keep the baked crust from setting solid.
• Lard versus modern fatsThe recipe allows "lard or other fat." Shelf-stable supermarket lard is hydrogenated and works, though it tastes flatter than rendered leaf lard; butter carries its own water and behaves differently in a hot-water mix. Shortening is the closest neutral substitute.
• Hydration looks wrong and is notHalf a cup of water to three cups of flour reads as far too dry, but the cup of fat is the main liquid here. Resist adding water; if the dough will not come together, warm it slightly instead.
• Storage"Keep in a cool place" meant larder, cellar or icebox rather than a modern refrigerator. Wrapped and refrigerated it will keep for a few days. If it has gone hard and cracks at the edges, let it lose the worst of its chill before rolling.
• Yield and bakingYield -- Roughly 1 1/2 lb of dough, enough for a double-crust 9-inch pie or two single shells. The recipe gives no oven instructions at all; bake by whatever the filling requires.
• RollingThis dough is sturdier than a cold-fat pastry and tolerates patching and re-rolling without going tough.