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Flaky Pastry

This dough can be made up to 2 days ahead, wrap and store in the refrigerator. The less handling, the better the texture will be. Also, keeping the fats & dough chilled is important to flaky pastry. Great for pies.
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Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for rolling, lightly spooned into the measuring cup
  • 3/4 cup cake flour lightly spooned into the measuring cup
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt slightly heaped
  • 10 tablespoons lard cold
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter cold
  • 1 extra-large egg cold, beaten (1/4 cup)
  • 3 tablespoons ice water
  • 2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Method
 

  1. Combine the flours and salt in a food processor and process for 10 seconds
  2. Add lard in 20 blobs and cut in the butter in 20 chips; pulse just until the largest pieces of fat are pea size, about 12 times
  3. In a bowl, blend the egg, ice water, and vinegar and pour over the flour mixture; pulse until the mixture masses to the point of being crumbles, 8-10 times
  4. Turn the crumbles on to the counter and pat into a ball (should still have some blobs of cold fat)
  5. Slice the ball in half and pat each half into 5" rounds; wrap in foil and chill for at least 30 minutes, (2 hours is better) before rolling out 1/8" thick.
  6. If patching is necessary, press dough together without water.