Hot Water Pastry

Hot water pastry is really easy to make and, as long as you leave it to rest for the right length of time, very easy to work with.

Ingredients:

• 200g lard
• 225ml water
• 575g plain flour

Method:

1. Put the lard and water into a sauce pan and heat over a medium heat until fully melted.
2. Put the flour into a large heat proof bowl.
3. Pour the liquid lard and water onto the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it starts to lump together.
4. Carefully (as it'll still be hot) use your hands to kneed the dough. You want to form a consistent ball of dough, which shouldn't take more than about a minute.
5. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
6. Split the dough into a 3:1 split, using the smaller bit for the lid of a pie.
7. Roll the dough out into roughly the shape of your pie dish (you won't need flour on the rolling surface) and then use your fingers to spread the dough into the pie dish.
8. Stuff with your filling of choice.
9. Roll out the remaining pastry for the lid and use your fingers to seal it to the base.
10. Bake in an oven at 160 degrees Celsius for an hour and a half to two hours, depending on your filling.
11. Leave for 10 minutes before serving after removing from the oven for the pastry and filling to rest.

Makes enough pastry for a 20cm wide pie that will be about 6 or 7 cms deep. Which is large enough for 8 people or so.