Apple Pie With Leaf Lard Crust Recipes

LEAF LARD CRUST

Steps:

• Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the lard and the butter, and cut them in with a pastry blender until the larger pieces are the size of peas and the mixture begins to clump on the pastry blender. Shuffle through the mixture with your hands, pinching chunks of lard to flatten them.
• Add 4 tablespoons of the ice water and mix with a fork. Pinch a clump of dough in your hands: If it feels moist and clumps together easily, it's probably hydrated enough. If it feels really crumbly, add another tablespoon or two of ice water until you can form a baseball-size clump of dough, packing it on as if you were making a snowball. You want to mix the dough as little as possible to ensure it stays tender.
• Divide the dough in half and form each half into a flat disk. Wrap both disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
• Thirty minutes before you're ready to roll out the dough, remove it from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature to soften.

LARD PIE CRUST

Steps:

• In a food processor, briefly pulse together the flour and salt. Add the butter and lard and pulse until the mixture forms chickpea-size pieces (3 to 5 one-second pulses). Or, if making by hand, stir together the flour and salt. Use two knives or a pastry cutter to cut the butter and lard into the flour mixture until you get slightly smaller pieces, the size of green peas.
• Add the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse or mix until the mixture is just moist enough to hold together. Form the crust into a ball, wrap with plastic and flatten into a disc. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before rolling out and baking.

MOM'S LARD PIE CRUST

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in lard until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in water, a tablespoon at a time, until pastry holds together. Shape into a ball; chill for 30 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Transfer to a 10-in. pie plate. Flute edges; fill and bake as pie recipe directs.

RENDERED LEAF LARD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place lard in a Dutch oven and bake until fat melts and the cracklings float to the surface, stirring every 45 minutes (this may take up to 4 hours). Remove from oven and strain into a heatproof glass measuring cup; discard solids. Pour rendered lard into small ice-cube trays about halfway full and freeze.

COMMON APPLE PIE

Steps:

• To make the pie:
• Preheat oven to 450° F.
• Prepare the pastry. Line a 9-inch pie pan with half of the pastry and set aside in the refrigerator, along with the unrolled half, while you make the filling. Taste a few slices of the apples to gauge how much sugar you'll need to make them sweet. In a large bowl, mix the apple slices in the lemon juice. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon to taste, then add the mace and nutmeg. Pour the apple mixture into the prepared pastry shell. Mound toward the center and dot with butter. Roll out the remaining pastry and carefully lay it over the apples. Seal the edges, cut vent holes, and decorate with extra pieces of dough cut into decorative shapes. Brush the egg wash over the surface of the pastry. Place the pie pan on a baking sheet (to catch any spill over) and cook in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350° F. and continue to cook for about another hour, until the top crust is a beautiful golden brown. If the edges start to darken too much, cover with a ribbon of aluminum foil.
• To make the butter and lard crust:
• Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. With the top off, sprinkle the butter and lard over the ingredients. Re-cover and pulse a few times until small clumps form. Begin to add the iced water through the feed tube, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing quickly until the dough begins to form into a ball. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap. As you wrap the dough in the plastic, form it into a disk. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Take the dough from the refrigerator and cut it into 2 pieces, one slightly bigger than the other. Wrap the smaller piece in plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator. Roll out the bigger piece on a lightly floured surface until it's slightly larger than the pie pan. Drape one end of the dough over the pin and gently lift it up, then slip the pan underneath the dough and lower it into the pan. Press the dough gently - and quickly - against the sides of the pan. Leave about an inch of dough hanging over the sides of the pan and cut any excess away. Refrigerate the crust for at least 30 minutes before either filling or prebaking.
• If you are making a pie with a top crust, after you have filled the pie, take the smaller disk from the refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it's a little bigger than the pie. Drape one end of the dough over the rolling pin, lift it gently, then drape it over the top of the filling. Press the edges together and crimp to seal. Slash a few vents across the top of the crust to allow steam to escape and bake the pie according to the directions in the recipe you are using. (If you are not making a pie with a top crust, either freeze the second dough disk or make an extra bottom crust.) Makes a double 9-inch crust

CLASSIC LARD TWO-CRUST PIE PASTRY

Steps:

• Whisk flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the lard with a knife or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, blending gently with a fork or pastry blender until all flour is moistened and dough almost cleans the sides of the bowl. Divide the dough in half and shape flattened rounds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

SHINGLED-LEAF BRANDY APPLE PIE

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk of dough to a 13-inch round, 1/8 inch thick. Fit into a 9-inch pie pan. Trim excess dough flush with rim. Refrigerate or freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Roll out remaining 2 disks of dough about D inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and refrigerate or freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Using a 2 1/4-inch leaf-shaped cutter, cut out about 65 leaves, and place them in a single layer on the baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, toss apples with flour, brandy, vanilla, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. Fill pie shell with apple mixture. Dot with butter.
• Score leaves with a paring knife to make veins. Lightly brush edge of pie shell with water. Lightly brush the back of each leaf with water; beginning with the outside edge, arrange leaves in a slightly overlapping ring. Repeat to form another ring slightly overlapping the first. Continue until only a small circle of filling is left uncovered in the center.
• In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and heavy cream. Carefully brush top of leaves and pie edge with egg wash, and sprinkle generously with sanding sugar. Refrigerate or freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Place pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake until crust just begins to brown, about 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, and continue baking until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, 85 minutes. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool completely.

PRIZEWINNING APPLE PIE WITH SOUR CREAM CRUST

Steps:

• For The Crust:.
• In a large bowl, whisk flour with salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter and lard until in fine crumbs with a few larger pieces.
• In a liquid measure, whisk water with sour cream, drizzle over flour mixture, tossing briskly with a fork and adding a little more water, if necessary, until ragged dough forms.
• Divide in half; press into 2 discs. Wrap and refrigerate until chilled, 30 minutes.(Make ahead: Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze in airtight container for up to 1 month) . Makes enough for 1 double crust pie.
• For the Filling:
• Peel and core apples; cut into 1/4 inch slices to make 8-cups. Place in a large bowl. In a small bowl toss together sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; add to apples and toss until coated.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the pastry to generous 1/8 inch thickness; fit into pie plate. Trim to rim of pie plate. Scrape in filling; dot with butter.
• Roll out remaining pastry. Whisk egg yolk with 1 tablespoons water; brush some of this egg wash over pastry on rim .
• Fit pastry over filling; trim to leave 3/4 inch overhang. Fold upper layer of pastry under pastry on rim; flute to seal. Brush some of the remaining egg wash lightly over pastry. Cut steam vents in top; sprinkle with coarse sugar.
• Bake in bottom third of 450F oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F ; bake until bottom is deep golden, apples are tender and filling is bubbly and thickened, about 65 minutes. Let cool on rack.