Making Dough with a Grater

I’ve always found pastry cutters to be cumbersome—the dull edges never seem to be as effective as I’d like, and too much dough gets caught between the blades as you go. A grater—left in the freezer for 15 minutes before using so it doesn’t melt the fat on contact—works as a great alternative, because it makes uniformly small pieces of fat that you then disperse throughout the flour. Make sure that you freeze your butter or lard before grating; otherwise they’ll turn into mush on the grater. This method isn’t recommended for the vegan dough because the coconut oil liquefies too easily.