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Pie Crust
1 cup flour.
teaspoon salt cup shortening cup ice water Sift together salt and flour. Cut in the shortening as for Bakingpowder Biscuits, using a large knife or spatula for this operation. The amount of water used will vary with the flour, so the proper consistency of dough must be learned rather than to place dependence on the measure of water. It is well to bear in mind that lard produces a flakier, whiter crust than any other shortening. Equal parts of lard and butter produce better pastry than butter alone. Dough must neither be sticky nor crumbly, and must be easily lifted from the bowl in one mass. If chilled, before rolling, it will be more easily handled. Toss on a floured board and roll lightly, keeping in a circular shape. Roll very thin. This recipe will make one small double crust pie.
A plain lard-and-flour pastry of the sort every general cookbook carried, with the useful admonition that water is judged by feel rather than measure. A few notes on how it reads today.
- QuantitiesThe ingredient line as printed gives units without their fractions, and the flour has no amount at all. Work from a standard proportion instead: for one small double crust, roughly 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 2/3 cup shortening, and 4 to 6 tablespoons ice water.
- Water by feelThe instruction to learn the consistency rather than trust a measure is the hinge of the recipe. Add water a tablespoon at a time until the dough just coheres when pressed; a dough that gathers cleanly in one mass is correct, one that smears is already overworked.
- Shortening"Shortening" here means solid fat generally, most often lard. Modern hydrogenated vegetable shortening behaves similarly but has less flavour; leaf lard or a half-lard, half-butter mix gives what the book is describing.
- Cut in as for biscuitsCut the fat only until the largest pieces are pea-sized. Visible flakes of fat are what produce layers; a uniform sandy texture gives a mealy, short crust instead.
- ChillingThirty minutes in the refrigerator, wrapped, is enough. It relaxes the gluten and firms the fat so the pieces survive rolling rather than smearing into the flour.
- RollingRoll from the centre out, turning the disc a quarter turn between strokes to keep it round. About 1/8 inch is "very thin" for pie pastry.
- BakingNo oven temperature is given; the recipe stops at the rolling. If you bake it, modern practice for a double crust is a hot start of about 425F for the first 15 minutes, dropped to about 350F to finish; for a blind-baked shell, prick the base and weight it.
- YieldThe recipe says one small double-crust pie: an 8-inch tin, or two single shells.
Lard pastry was the American default well into the twentieth century, and the confidence of the line "lard produces a flakier, whiter crust than any other shortening" reflects a period before hydrogenated vegetable fats had displaced rendered pork fat in most kitchens. The compromise offered here, equal parts lard and butter, is the same one bakers still reach for: lard for its large soft crystals that roll out into sheets, butter for flavour it cannot supply. The recipe assumes a cook who already knows the technique and needs only proportions and a reminder, which is why the water is left to judgment rather than pinned to a figure.