Vodka is very helpful to prohibit gluten development! However, here, she is using the frisage method; this means that most of the flour is coated with fat, prohibiting too much gluten from forming, much in the way that vodka would (since it's distilled so it doesn't react to form gluten the way water would). I love the cinnamon tip!

This method works amazingly well , better than any vodka crusts I've ever made (though you can swap the vodka for something more interesting to give the crust some more flavor - whiskey, rum, whatever). Also, you can do this all in a stand mixer, in fact her cookbook says to. Turns out the paddle attachment does a really competent job of doing frisage without smearing it everywhere.

😂

very few professional bakers use vodka, not even Ina and that's a good tip

yup, cold vodka or vinegar is a game changer!