RECIPE / ONE REALIZATION
This traditional quiche Lorraine recipe is adapted from www.Slate.fr .
← Back to the dish overview
RECIPE INGREDIENTS
METHOD
Set the oven to preheat to 180°C/350°F.
Place flour and salt into a large bowl, add the cubes of butter, then work the butter into the flour with your fingers until the mixture becomes breadcrumb-like.
Knead, adding cold water tablespoon by tablespoon to the flour and butter mixture just until it comes together into a smooth dough.
Wrap the ball of dough in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Lightly flour your working surface, then place the ball of dough on the flour and roll it out to fit a 23cm (9-inch) quiche pan, making sure you roll it out enough to cover the bottom and the sides of the pan.
Place the dough into a quiche pan that you've lined with baking paper, taking care it covers the bottom and the sides. Cut off any excess dough.
Prick the dough with a fork.
Place the baking paper over the dough, fill the pastry shell with beans or rice, then bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the rice or beans, along with the baking paper, and bake for another 10 minutes.
Let the pastry shell cool a bit.
Meanwhile, cut the bacon into strips, then fry it in a small amount of butter, just until it's cooked through and rendered but not crisp. Drain the bacon on paper towels, and throw away the rendered fat.
Arrange the strips of bacon on the bottom of the quiche shell.
Next, whisk the crème fraîche and the eggs in a separate bowl — add pepper and nutmeg, if desired. Also, if needed, strain the custard to remove any leftover egg chunks.
Then, pour the custard into the quiche shell, taking care not to disturb the bacon.
Bake for 15 minutes.
OTHER REALIZATIONS
The following recipe is adapted from the Tourism Lorraine website ( www.tourism-lorraine.com ). It uses a pre-made shortcrust pastry, and there's no need to add salt to the dish since the smoked bacon is salty enough as it is.
This recipe for quiche with spinach and cheese is adapted from the Once upon a Chef website ( www.onceuponachef.com ). Be careful to press all the water out from the spinach, since any remaining liquid will make the dish soggy.
The following recipe is adapted from the Simply Recipes website ( www.simplyrecipes.com ). Make sure to sauté the mushrooms before baking to remove the excess liquid; otherwise, the quiche might turn out soggy. Include some shiitake mushrooms for a richer flavor.
This recipe uses puff pastry and is adapted from the Cinnamon, Spice & Everything nice website ( www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com ). While baking, cover the crust with some foil if it starts to brown excessively.
Adapted from the Tourism Lorraine website, the official tourist site of the Lorraine region, this recipe suggests preparing the quiche Lorraine with pre-made shortcrust pastry. As the bacon is already salty enough, no additional salt is added to the filling mixture.
In this variant, two things stand out. First, the quiche Lorraine is prepared with pre-made puff pastry; and second, the recipe suggests straining the bacon after frying to prevent the quiche from being too greasy.
The following recipe gives instructions on how to prepare quiche au fromage in under an hour. The pie is made with store-bought puff pastry and the filling with just eggs, milk, and Gruyère.
The following recipe is for a quiche with goat’s cheese filling. Additional ingredients include onions and parsley, which have been previously sautéed in butter. You can use store-bought shortcrust pastry, or make one from scratch.
USEFUL NOTES
Quiche is usually made with shortcrust pastry, but puff pastry also works well. Puff pastry quiches are airy and light, while the shortcrust absorbs less liquid making the slices more compact and easier to handle. Besides preparing the pastry from scratch, you can opt to use a store-bought one. If making the pastry at home, shortcrust is a better option than puff pastry since it can be done in a matter of minutes. Keep the butter chunks dice-sized, as this will contribute to the flakiness of the crust. Most experts suggest piercing the dough with a fork or a toothpick to prevent it from rising while in the oven.
The dish is usually baked in a shallow pie tin with straight but ridged sides. The majority of baking tins being used have a diameter of 20 to 25 cm (8 to 10 inches). Since the pastry tends to shrink during baking, place the rolled-out dough in the tin, leaving its sides a couple of centimeters (an inch) higher than the sides of the tin. Many sources advise blind-baking the pastry, which means to first bake the pastry without a filling for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden. You can use dried beans, rice, or pastry weights to keep the dough from rising while blind-baking.
The majority of the filling ingredients need to be sautéed or cooked beforehand, except for a few fast-cooking things, such as asparagus or tomatoes. Make sure that the prepared ingredients are strained or dried before placing them onto the pastry because the excess liquid will make the quiche soggy. There are numerous options to choose from when deciding about the filling, such as turkey bacon and broccoli, ham and cheese, butternut squash and kale, peas and bacon, leek and Gruyere, spinach, and mushroom, bacon and crème fraîche, zucchini and goat cheese, and many more. When it comes to the custard, many suggest using a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream (or half and half), claiming that the heavy cream by itself produces a custard too thick.