In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. If you're working in a particularly hot kitchen, chill the bowl and utensils. Rub in the lard or suet to a breadcrumb texture.

Dust the butter through the flour as if all the pieces are coated in flour. Freeze the butter into tiny flakes. Shaking the butter like this will help keep it cold and create the flakiness.

Sprinkle the diced lard or suet in among the flour and rub with a fork or combine. Continue working the butter until it's a very even consistency. At this point, the mixture should look like breadcrumbs and feel quite cool.

Sprinkle the ice-cold water over the work surface and sprinkle over as small tablespoons of water. Gently toss the dough together with a fork until it just comes together. The final dough should hold together but shouldn't be wet or all.

Wrap the finished dough in clingfilm and gently roll into a rolling pin. Once ready to press, roll out the dough to about 3mm thickness before the next step. Chill for at least 30 minutes before the next step. Chill for 30 minutes and make sure the dough is ready to work with.

To laminate the dough, roll it out to a light floured work surface into a rectangle that is roughly 3 times as long as it is wide. Brush off any excess flour. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Repeat this process two more times, folding the dough in thirds each time. After the final lamination, the dough should be folding made smoothly, with much less blooming chunks of butter.

If using the pastry to make shaped-out pies in a lined double-crust pie, divide the dough in half. If making the dough to make a simple cream cheese pie, divide the dough into portions as needed.

Wrap the dough in clingfilm again and refrigerate. You can individually use this pastry even as fresh as is, but I much prefer leaving it in the fridge overnight, or even for a couple of days, and the following morning will be much easier to roll out. The dough can be refrigerated for a week or frozen for up to three months. To use from frozen, let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.