Century-Old Nun’s Pastry Dough

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Ingredients

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp kosher salt
  • Rind and juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • 1 lb lard (we recommend Tenderflake)
  • 1 egg, separated

Preparation

Step 1

Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the salt and lemon rind (reserving the juice), and stir with a whisk. Cut the lard into small cubes. Use a pastry knife to chop the lard and flour together into smaller pea-sized pieces until the mix resembles a light, floury crumble.

Separate the egg white into a bowl for whisking and the yolk into a measuring jug. Add lemon juice to egg yolk and top with ice-cold water to the 1-cup line and stir well. Whisk the egg white until foamy and white.

Make a well in the flour mixture.

Add the egg yolk, lemon juice, and water mixture to the flour mixture and gently fold 7–12 times by hand. While the mix is still a bit floury, add in the whipped egg white and gently press, fold, and press again until all the flour combines into a paste-like ball.

Divide two-thirds of the pastry into one ball, and the remaining one-third into another before wrapping and chilling.