In a large bowl--large enough to give you generous working space--combine the flour, sugar and salt.

Add the butter and the lard. Toss lightly in the flour to coat.

With your hands, break up the butter slices. Touch the butter only momentarily and drop it back into the flour, mixing and breaking up the pieces with a fast thumb-against-the-other-four-fingers motion. As you do this, think about keeping the butter pieces coated in flour, and think about thinning them as well as breaking them up.

Gently break up the lard with your fingers. Since the lard is much softer, this is a different motion. I press down with my fingers into the flour at first, coating the lard and breaking it up at the same time. Then I use the same thumb-against-the-other-four-fingers motion, gently and quickly, trying to keep the lard coated with flour as I break it up.

Work the fats into the flour until your mixture looks raggedy and unfinished, with bits of butter and lard ranging in size from peas to kidney beans. (Disregard all those other recipes that tell you to work the dough until it resembles cornmeal! You WANT visible chunks of fat in your dough!)

Add a few tablespoons of icewater and stir a few times with a fork. Resist the urge to over-stir.

Add another drizzle of water and stir a few more times. Depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen, this might be enough. Or you might need to add another drizzle, or even more. You have to judge by the look and feel of the dough.

Check to see if most of the dough has gathered itself into chunks. Test by gathering a small handful of dough and pressing it together very lightly. If it holds together, it's time to stop adding water. If it's still falling-apart crumbly, add another small drizzle of water.

Once your dough can hold together, it's time to pull it together in the bowl so it makes one nice lump. Press it together, turn it, massage it and fold it over itself for only about 5-10 seconds, so you've got all the bits nicely incorporated into one dough ball.

If you are using the dough for one double-crust, deep-dish pie, divide it in half. (If you are making a smaller pie, such as standard-depth 9-inch pie, divide it into thirds.)

Shape each section of dough into a thick disk. Wrap each one in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a half-hour.

You can keep the disks in the fridge for a week or two, as long as they're well sealed.

They freeze nicely, too. Once you're ready to use your frozen disks, move them to the refrigerator to defrost overnight.