OT: Recipe: Butter quiche crust

OK, I promised, so here is the butter crust I mentioned in the quiche 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.

=========================================================

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.