On Food and Cooking

Crumbly but firm pastries are especially
prominent in French cooking, where thin but
robust crusts support quiches, various savory
pies, and fruit tarts. Where American pie
crusts are too tender to support themselves
and are served from the pan, French tarts are
almost always removed from the pan and
stand on their own. In the standard French
version of crumbly pastry, pâte brisée, coarse
pieces of butter and egg yolks are placed in
the midst of the proper amount of flour, and
the liquid and solids gently worked together
with the fingers to form a rough dough. The
dough is then kneaded by pushing it into and
along the work surface with the heel of the
hand, an action that disperses the butter finely
into the dough. The butter separates small
flour aggregates from each other and prevents
them from forming a continuous, tough mass,
while the egg yolks provide moisture, fats,
and proteins that will coagulate during
cooking and help hold the flour aggregates