Pastry Crust (Pie Dough)

Ingredients
1 cup flour
½ tsp. salt
½ cup lard
1 tsp. vinegar 
1/3 cup cold water

For Fruit Pies:
a. Fill with fruit filling.
b. Add top crust.
c. Pinch top and bottom crusts together.
d. Prick top crust a few times with a knife.
e. Bake for 45-60 min. or until fruit is soft and pastry is golden.

1.  Preheat oven to 425F.
2.  Combine flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
3.  With pastry blender, cut in lard until no pieces are bigger than a small pea.
4.   Add liquid to flour mixture and stir until dough forms a ball. You may need to use your hands to knead it a little. Add more flour 1 T. at a time until dough is not sticky. Too much flour and too much kneading makes it tough.
5.  You can wrap and refrigerate/freeze the dough at this point. 
6.  On a floured counter, roll dough until desired thickness. Don’t stretch the dough. Flip dough over often and continually re-flour the counter and rolling pin to prevent sticking.
7. Once dough is roughly the size of a pie plate, roll it up and unroll in the pie plate. If dough breaks or cracks, just patch it up. Press the dough into the edges of the pie plate. Cut off the excess.  
8.  You can flute the edges for a gourmet look.

For Cream Pies:
a. Prick with a fork in many places and bake for 10-12 min. or until golden brown.