This is my go to recipe for short crust pastry for all savory pies and quiches etc. In general I prefer to use unbleached organic bread flour as it produces a stronger pastry which is especially needed when making Cornish Pasties, or any other type of pasty, where the pastry has to be folded and crimped.

If you are making a quiche base or a regular meat pie that is in a tin you can use plain flour. The exception to this is when you are making a pork pie, you should always use bread flour to make sure you get that crispy pastry which is a characteristic of a pork pie.

Notes

1. You can upgrade this recipe by adding 1 egg, this adds more flavor to the pastry and also helps it to brown (because of the protein). Beat the egg well and add it like you add the water. If you add the egg reduce the water to 125 ml.

1. In a large bowl add the salt to flour and mix well.
2. Cut the cold butter and lard into smallish pieces, add to flour and rub in with fingers until a bread crumb like consistency is achived. You don't want to have any lumps of butter or lard in the mix otherwise when you rollout they will make holes.
3. Add the cold water (and egg if used) to the mixture and work with a wooden spoon to bring it all together. I find a small plastic scraper really useful towards the end to clean out the blowl.
4. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and nead a little to bring it all together into a nicrly formed bll or disc. Wrap in film and cill for at least 30 minutes, better 1 hour or more.
5. If you have a food processor you can do all steps 3 and 4 in the processor. I resisted doing this form a long time but after I tried it I was surprised at how well it works and produces a very uniform and constsent dough. I have a Kitchenaid 7 cup food processor and it is just big enough to make a batch of dough as listed in the ingredients above.