{"id":7689,"date":"2014-11-26T00:05:19","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T06:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/?p=7689"},"modified":"2014-11-26T15:21:42","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T21:21:42","slug":"grandma-conrads-never-fail-pie-crust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/grandma-conrads-never-fail-pie-crust\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandma Conrad’s Never Fail Pie Crust"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pie<\/a>I’m the pie baker for this year’s family Thanksgiving gathering. Thanks to Grandma Conrad’s foolproof recipe, the pie crusts are ready to go. The post below debuted at Down the Gravel Road in November of 2009. Not only does it tell the story of our family’s pie baking tradition, it also is a wonderful memory of Aunt Lois Benson who died just over a year ago.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday I mentioned that my extended family considers the words \u201cI love you\u201d and \u201cTaste this\u201d to be synonyms. What I didn\u2019t tell you was that yesterday, two of the matriarchs of our extended Hess family\u2019s kitchens, my mother and my Aunt Lois, spent the day baking together.<\/p>\n

Now that\u2019s not all we did. Aunt Lois also graciously consented to being interviewed about her memories of life on her parents\u2019 Iowa and Minnesota farms in the 1920s and 30s. And when we needed a break from the baking, we went to our town\u2019s Dutch Oven Bakery for lunch.<\/p>\n

But for the most part, I cracked the whip on these two ladies. Back in their baking days, which lasted from the 1930s until the 2000s, they were extraordinary pie bakers. So yesterday, I eeked every possible pie baking secret out of them.\u00a0 If only their other two living sisters could have been here, I could have learned the secrets of Aunt Letha\u2019s sour cream raisin pie and Aunt Donna\u2019s butterscotch, too.<\/p>\n

Aunt Lois said the secret to good pie crust is mixing a little baking powder into the flour and using rendered lard \u2013 hard to find these days \u2013 cutting it into the flour until the mixture crumbles are pea-sized. I wanted to get her pie crust recipe, but she said she never used one, just added ingredients until it looked and felt right.<\/p>\n

As a tribute to my aunts, who made pie crust as flaky and tender as any I\u2019ve ever tasted, here is my fail safe recipe. It came from Aunt Letha\u2019s mother-in-law who was also a wonderful cook.<\/p>\n

Grandma Conrad\u2019s Never Fail Pie Crust<\/strong><\/p>\n

6 cups flour\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 teaspoons salt
\n1 teaspoon baking powder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 \u2013\u00a0 1 1\/2 cups lard
\n1 egg\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 tablespoons vinegar<\/p>\n

In a 1 cup measuring cup, beat egg with a fork. Add vinegar and enough water to make one cup. Set aside. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut in lard until mixture is crumbly but not clumpy. Pour liquid mixture into flour mixture and stir with a fork until it forms a large ball.<\/p>\n

This recipe makes 5 \u2013 6 pie crusts. Let the dough sit for 10 minutes and roll out all the crusts. When they\u2019re rolled out, place a piece of waxed paper on the crust and carefully roll the paper and crust into a tube. Put the crusts in a 2 gallon zipper bag and freeze. Then, thaw the rolls and use them when you\u2019re ready to bake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m the pie baker for this year’s family Thanksgiving gathering. Thanks to Grandma Conrad’s foolproof recipe, the pie crusts are ready to go. The post below debuted at Down the Gravel Road in November of 2009. Not only does it tell the story of our family’s pie baking tradition, it also is a wonderful memory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[93,94,818],"class_list":["post-7689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipe","tag-aunt-letha","tag-aunt-lois","tag-mom"],"yoast_head":"\nGrandma Conrad's Never Fail Pie Crust - Jolene Philo Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grandma Conrad's Never Fail Pie Crust - Jolene Philo Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I’m the pie baker for this year’s family Thanksgiving gathering. 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