Pastry Crust for Quiche

Ooh I’m excited because this is the first recipe I’m attempting from my Julia Child cookbook.  I’ve never made my own pie crust, much less my own pie!  Before we get started, I highly recommend watching this YouTube video..  Videos make directions so much easier to understand:

Ingredients:

• 2  cups all-purpose flour (scooped and leveled)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) chilled butter cut into 1/2 inch bits
• 4 TB chilled shortening (Julia says the shortening is what brings out the tenderness of the crust with a good buttery flavor, so don’t skimp on this)
• 1/2 cup of iced water (plus droplets more if needed)

Directions: Place flour, salt, sugar, butter, and shortening in a big mixing bowl.  Rub the flour and fat together rapidly between the tips of your fingers until the fat is broken into pieces the size of oatmeal flakes.  Do not overdo this step as the fat will be blended more thoroughly later.

Add the water little by little and blend until you have a ball of dough formed.  Don’t touch the dough more than you need to because the dough needs to remain cold for as long as possible (hence the ice water and chilled butter involved).  Add a few more droplets of water as needed.  Press the dough into a ball-shape.  It should be pliable but not sticky.  Now place the unrolled dough in the refrigerator for 30 min.

After the dough has been chilled, place the dough on a lightly floured board.  Place rolling pin across the center to start.  Gently roll the dough out with a rolling pin until the dough is about 1/8 inch thick.  At the end of it, the dough should form a crust about 2-inches larger than your pan.

Roll the dough onto your rolling pin, then slowly un-roll it over the top of your pie pan.  Gently lift and press the dough into the bottom of the pan and around the edges – do not overstretch your dough.  Trim off excess dough.  If you want, you can press a decorative edge around the rim of the pastry using the dull edge of a knife.  Place the pastry in the freezer for at least half an hour, until chilled.

When you’re ready to bake the crust, line the crust with parchment paper or foil.  Fill the crust with pie-weights such as dried beans or uncooked rice.  This will prevent the crust from collapsing or puffing up, helping it retain its mold.

Bake at the middle level of a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 8-9 minutes until pastry is set.  Remove the pie-weights.  Prick bottom of pastry with a fork at 1/2-inch intervals (this keeps the bottom from puffing up).  Return to oven for 2-3 minutes more.  When the shell is starting to color, remove it from the oven.  This results in a partially cooked shell ready to be filled with whatever ingredients you desire.  Making the dough is actually a lot easier than it sounds.  It’s just the extensive, very specific, and detailed directions that make it seem scary.

For my first time, I think my pre-baked crust turned out pretty good!

HOWEVER, in my haste, I FORGOT to put in the pie weights!!  4 minutes into baking, I realized it and rushed to take my crust out of the oven.  Luckily, it was still salvageable!  Only one corner had collapsed slightly, but most of it was still intact.  I didn’t take a picture of the collapsed crust, but yea… don’t be a dummy like me!  At least the finished result was still delish, though it won’t win a beauty pageant or anything like that.

Good thing this blog is a document of my journey, which almost always includes some bumps in the road.  :)

Adapted from: Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume 1 by Julia Child