Why do some pie crust recipes include vinegar?

reno_rita

I experiment some with pie crusts and have seen recipes that include vinegar as well as eggs. What does the vinegar do and what does the egg do. I have heard the vinegar promotes tenderness but have read on one of the posts here that it speeds gluten formation.

Originally asked by Ron on Stack Exchange (cooking) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

From On Food and Cooking : Acidity in the dough - as from a sourdough culture - weakens the gluten network by increasing the number of positively charged amino acids along the protein chains, and increasing the repulsive force between chains. And weaker gluten structure is definitely a good thing for pastry doughs! From the same source: [Eggs] supplement gluten structure with tender protein coagulum, tenderize products; slow staling So eggs help provide a more tender structure, again good for pastry doughs.

Full answer by Cascabel: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/19579 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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