OT: Recipe: Butter quiche crust
Ed Huntress
recipe. I'm posting it as a direct lift from _The Everyday Gourmet_ by
Sheila Elion (1974), but with a couple of cautions.
First, Sheila likes to squish her hands around in dough. I've seen her do it
and she looks happy. I don't know why; it must be a French thing. When I try
it, I wind up with two big doughballs where my hands were, and nothing much
left in the bowl. So I suggest using an ordinary pastry cutter instead of
your hands.
Second, this is the same recipe you'll see in the fancy pie recipes from New
York patisseries. Personally, I'm not a big fan of it for pies, except maybe
for berry pies, but it's perfect for quiche.
Third, unless you want to go the full mile, the difference between this and
ordinary crusts is not great. It's just...buttery. And it's very flakey.
It's for people who take pride in the work.
Finally, the only trick with a butter crust is having the butter at the
right temperature -- room temp, not above 72 deg. F. Slightly cooler is
better. You may notice that pie crust recipes on the Web often say to use
any solid shortening, except butter! That's probably because they don't know
about having the butter at the right temperature and they make slimy
greaseballs instead of crust, or it's too cold and they can't cut it into
the flour.
As Sheila says, it's an especially easy crust to roll out. If you can't make
this one successfully, you need basic training in pastry making. <g>
=========================================================
Crust:
1-1/4 cup sifted all-purpose four
1/4 lb. sweet butter
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon iced water
Squish the butter and egg yolk into the flour with your fingers [yuck! --
Ed.] until it thoroughly blended. It should stay in a nice firm ball. Add
the iced water and combine well. (It will now be a bit tacky.) Place in a
tightly covered container and refrigerate until firm, an hour or so. (This
can be made way ahead and stored in the refrigerator or freezer until
needed. It is best defrosted in the refrigerator. If the dough has been
stored for a long time, it will be easier to work if you allow it to stand
at room temperature for a little while before rolling it out.)
(interlude for making the filling...)
Roll out the crust on a lightly floured surface [more than lightly -- Ed.].
This is an absolutely fool-proof dough, so don't worry about over-handling
or patching it. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and ease it into a
10-1/2" flan pan (or a 10" pie pan or individual tart pans.) Allow the dough
to rest for a few moments. Ease the dough down into the sides of the pan.
[end]
It's about as she says. It heals well at the edges, so it's not hard for
beginners to roll out. If it sticks to the board or the counter, it's too
warm.
Amaze your friends. Make a quiche.
--
Ed Huntress
Up North
"Ed Huntress" <hunt...@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:4b3d6e4c$0$22520$607e...@cv.net...
Hey Ed
We have enjoyed your quiche recipe a couple of times now. The second time
around with spinach added to the mix. I am always up for trying something
new. Happy New Year!
Steve
Ed Huntress
"Up North" <som...@someware.net> wrote in message
news:hhjsq...@enews6.newsguy.com...
Hey, that makes it all worthwhile. 'Glad to hear it, Steve. There are lots
of different fillings to experiment with, as you've probably seen.
Happy New Year to you, and to anyone else within earshot. We're headed out
in a few minutes to join some neighbors and celebrate.
--
Ed Huntress
CalifBill
The secret to flaky pie crusts is COLD. Make sure everything is cold.
Colder than room temp. Cut the butter / shortening in with a pastry cutter
or a knife. Then chill the dough ball before rolling out. Americas Test
Kitchen had the best crust recipe, but they seem to be a pay site now.
Ed Huntress
"CalifBill" <bmcke...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:M56dnRSLBcqtOKDW...@earthlink.com...
<snip>
> The secret to flaky pie crusts is COLD. Make sure everything is cold.
> Colder than room temp. Cut the butter / shortening in with a pastry
> cutter or a knife. Then chill the dough ball before rolling out.
> Americas Test Kitchen had the best crust recipe, but they seem to be a pay
> site now.
Cold is good. Going light on the water is good -- that's called a "short"
crust. Really nice, but very hard to roll.
--
Ed Huntress