There is much to be said about the phrase home made. Sure some people can say they made it themselves, but it really is not home made if a store bought pie crust is used. Of course that is my personal opinion. If you make something at home I guess you could say it was home made. I should probably use the phrase, made from scratch.

I am as guilty as the next person. I tried recipe after recipe but I could not get the taste I remembered in a pie crust. One would say use oil, while another would call for shortening. Still others would say to use a combination of both and add an egg. They all said to use cold water and roll out on a lightly floured surface to the desired size and thickness.

Every time I would roll out the dough it would stick to the floured surface. If I put more flour than was called for the dough would get dry and break before I got it to the pan. If I re-rolled it and did manage to put it in the pan and bake my pie, the crust was tough and hard as cardboard. I was getting disgusted because I have an antique cupboard with an enamel surface that is perfect for kneading bread on. My great grandmother had the same cupboard and her pies were perfect.

So I gave up on recipes again and started experimenting. After numerous disasters and a few close calls I finally hit a home run with this formula. I use lard, not shortening and all purpose unbleached flour. Measure 2-cups flour into a bowl and 1/4-teaspoon salt. With a pastry blender cut in 1/2-cup cold lard until it looks like coarse cornmeal. Then add another 1/2-cup cold lard and cut it in until the lard is the size of peas. Then sprinkle over that mixture 1/4-cup of ice water-1-tablespoon at a time and mix the dough with your hands. When the dough forms a ball cover it and refrigerate it for at least 1/2-hour.

Now you will have a dough that you can use a lot of flour to roll it out with. It should not stick to anything and if you have to re-roll it, it will not be tough as cardboard. So go ahead I dare you!