Ideal for EatingEating ethically while eating great!

We were going to a brunch today, and I was planning on making a vegan quiche and waffles. The waffles I had made before. The quiche I had not. I used to make a yummy egg-based quiche, but this was a first for tofu-based quiche. I had planned on taking the easy way and had my husband buy a refrigerated pie crust -- rather than make my own. Alas, he bought one with lard in it! I had already started the batter -- onions were caramelizing, spinach was rinsed, cashews were processed -- and I didn't want to give up, so I went ahead and make a crust.

I've made crusts before. The first time I made one, I was worried it would be too difficult. I happily discovered that it's not difficult at all. If the recipe is good, if the proportions are correct, making a crust is not difficult, just time-consuming . . . and rewarding. A homemade crust tastes so much better than pre-made.

Well, the quiche recipe I was following came from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Brunch. So far, I have really liked the recipes I've made from this book. The "Perfect Pancakes" are rather close to perfection. And the waffles are excellent. I had faith that the quiche would also be lovely. When I realized I'd have to make my own crust, instead of pulling out Gourmet for a recipe I've made and loved, I just flipped two pages in Vegan Brunch to make Moskowitz's crust.

Big, huge, monumental mistake.

I don't know if it's a typo or if recipes work differently on Planet Moskowitz, but on Planet Kelly, this recipe resulted in a crust that actually melted during baking. It melted.

I panicked. I could not, would not, use the lard-based pre-made crust. And I absolutely had no time to make another crust. I was already 45 minutes behind as it was. 

I ended up dumping the quiche filling into a pie dish and baking it into a vegan frittata. It was delicious. Moskowitz's basic quiche filling turned out lovely. I adapted it a bit and was very pleased.

After brunch, I came home and looked at the crust recipe again and compared it to the Gourmet recipe. When I was making the Moskowitz crust, it was almost too wet after the addition of only two tablespoons of chilled water. Trying to roll out the chilled dough was impossible without adding the equivalent of almost an additional cup of flour. It was just so sticky. I assumed I had used too little flour, even though I was worried about that possibility from the beginning and had triple-checked my measurements while putting the crust together.

Turns out it was not me. The Moskowitz recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of flour and 1 1/4 cups of vegan margarine. I wondered about that amount as I was making it, but I trusted the recipe and moved on. I should have looked at another recipe then. The Gourmet recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of flour and 8 tablespoons of butter/shortening. Eight tablespoons is the equivalent of 1/2 cup. So the 1 1/4 cups is the equivalent of 20 tablespoons! No wonder I had to add another cup of flour. I actually should have added another cup and a half of flour. 

My guess is that the Moskowitz recipe is a typo. Either they meant the recipe to make two crusts and had intended to write "3 cups of flour," or they intended the recipe to make one crust and had intended to write "8 (or maybe 10) tablespoons of margarine." Unfortunately, the recipe does not indicate how many crusts it makes. I love, love, love Moskowitz's cookbooks. And I will definitely keep using them and recommending them. I am just so disappointed that this issue was missed in editing.

So, here's how to make a pie crust: prep time 15 minutes, chilling time 1 hour; makes 2 crusts

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of flour

2 sticks of vegan butter (= 16 tablespoons = 1 cup), very cold, cut into tiny cubes

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional, for quiche)

or 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or spice of your choice (optional, for other pies)

5 - 6 tablespoons chilled water

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, sift in the flour, salt and spices. Cut in the butter until dough looks like small crumbs. Add water one tablespoon at a time until dough sticks together but is not sticky. (If you have a food processor with a dough attachment, put sifted flour, salt and spices in food processor with butter. Pulse until dough looks like small crumbs. Pulse in water one tablespoon at a time until dough sticks together but is not sticky.)

Remove dough from bowl and press down. Separate into halves. Form each half into a disc and wrap discs separately in plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.

Turn dough out on lightly floured work area. Form one disc into a ball. Use rolling pin to gently roll out into a circle. Using rolling pin, carefully roll circle of dough partly over pin to transfer crust to a pie dish. If making quiche, prick crust a few times, place parchment paper over crust and fill with ceramic pie weights. (If you don't have pie weights, just proceed without them.) Bake crust for 10 minutes in oven preheated to 350. Remove from oven and fill with quiche batter. Follow quiche directions from here! If making a pie, you usually don't have to pre-bake the crust. Just follow the pie directions for single or double crust.

I hope I didn't leave anything out (or add too much in)!