Pie crust

This is a follow up to the quiche post. On reflection, the crust on that quiche was the best pie crust I have ever made. I have a long history of crust-related disasters, so I thought I'd better get this one up on the internet before I forget everything. Let this post stand as proof that miracles do happen.

1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
up to 1/4 cup ice water (I used about 1/8 cup this time)
1/2 teaspoon vinegar


Cut butter up into small pieces to aid mixing. Using a fork, mix butter, flour, and salt until uniformly crumbly. Add vinegar and give a quick mix again. Add enough water to form the dough into a slightly sticky ball. By this point I had given up on utensils and was using my hands to mix; it's just easier. 


Chill in refrigerator for an hour. Roll out. Makes one 9 inch pie crust (with a little bit left over for covering up mistakes). 

A few changes from my usual (usually failed) pie crust. First up: vinegar. I'm not sure what it's doing, but it's probably some sort of black magic, or possibly science. A quick internet search tells me that acid breaks down gluten strands that form in dough. Shorter gluten strands make for a more tender (flakier) end product. Another change from my usual method was taking time to chill the crust before baking. Chilling the dough will re-solidify the butter, separating it from the flour, which will result in a flakier crust.  Bonus: chilled dough doesn't stick to the counter as badly as room temperature dough.

And an update on the spinach quiche: strangers liked it too.