Uncooked shortcrust pastry with lard shown being used for an apple pie on a table with a rolling pin

Shortcrust Pastry With Lard

To make a good pie you need a light, crisp, buttery pastry. I use my mother’s rich shortcrust pastry with lard and butter recipe for all my pies, both sweet and savoury. She was a wonderful cook and the kitchen was always a place where we worked together and had lots of fun. She was from Northern Ireland where the tradition of home cooking is still strong, and she continued to to use the recipes her mother and grandmother had used.

My mother always used a mixture of butter and lard to make her pastry and I believe these ingredients make the lightest and crispest pastry. At Duddleswell Tea Rooms I use a vegetable shortening instead of lard as it allows our pies and tarts to be vegetarian friendly, but I do use lard when cooking for my family.

The choice is yours!

Shortcrust Pastry With Lard

Cuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy
Servings

Enough for a 10 inch / 25cm pie

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes

Ingredients

  • 8oz / 225gms plain flour

  • 4oz / 112gms cold butter

  • 2oz / 55gms lard or solid vegetable fat

  • 2-3 tablespoons cold water

Directions

  • Cut your fats into small pieces and mix with the flour. The butter should be cold but not straight out of the fridge. You can use lard/vegetable fat straight from the fridge.Fats cut into small pieces on flour
  • Rub the fats into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.Coarse breadcrumb mixture in a bowl
  • Mix to a dough with the cold water using a flat bladed knife until clumps form, then bring together using your hands.Ball of dough close up
  • I have a old bone handled flat bladed knife that belonged to my mother and I always use this when making pastry.
  • Rest in the fridge or a cool place for 30 minutes.
  • Use as needed in your recipe.

Use your Shortcrust Pastry With Lard to make an Apple Pie

Next time I will share with you my mother’s recipe for apple pie. I use this recipe for the tea rooms and for the apple pies I make for my family!

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