Quiche Lorraine

 

Pâte Brisée  (The Crust) 

Ingredients 

1.75 cups of flour
3.5 oz of butter (almost whole stick) chilled
1/2 tsp salt
⅝ cup icy water

Method

Add flour and chilled butter first. Then use your hands to squish the butter into the flour until it is well incorporated.  Some people say to allow the butter to be in tiny corn kernel sizes. This will work and will form a flaky crust. But it will be harder to roll out. If you really get the butter will mixed in, the crust will not be as flaky but it will roll out nicely. You get to decide.  

 

After the butter and flour have found a nice mélange, add the chilled water all at once. Then use a fork to mix it up to form a nice ball. 

 

Wrap it in a towel or some plastic wrap. Let it rest for at least 2 hours or even 24 hours. This is essential because the flour needs to absorb the water and do some magic. I really don’t know what goes one behind the closed doors of the fridge but it does make a difference. When rushed, I do skip this step but it just doesn’t come out as good. 

 

When you are ready to make the Quiche:

Preheat the oven to 400℉

 

Roll out the dough and place into  a 9 inch baking dish. 

Pre-cook the crust at 400 degrees for 5-10 minutes. (baking beads on the bottom will prevent bubbling of the dough)

Quiche filling

Ingredients 

1 cup half & half (or 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup heavy cream)
1 shallot (minced) 
4 eggs 
Nutmeg
8 oz  grated Gruyère or other Swiss cheese (Appenzeller is my favorite) 
4 strips of bacon* fried and crumbled (or good ham chopped)

Method

Fry up 4 strips of the bacon. And set aside. 

Fry up 1 shallot (or ¼ cup onion) in the bacon drippings.  And set aside. 

In a medium sized bowl add 4 eggs, milk, cream, onions and bacon  and whisk.

Add half of the cheese.

To assemble the quiche: Add ¼ of the cheese to line the bottom of the pan. Add the mixture from the bowl and then top the quiche with the rest of the cheese. Grate or sprinkle a little nutmeg over the top. 
 
Put the quiche in the oven at 400℉ for 10 minutes then immediately lower the temperature to 350℉ and cook for 25 minutes. 
 
Cook until the top has risen and browned (to your taste). 
 
Cool for about 10 minutes before serving. 

 

Bon appétit!

 

 

*try to find unsmoked, unadulterated, lowest salt bacon you can, otherwise the bacon may dominate the flavor of the quiche. A low salt, boiled ham works best.  Pancetta would be a middle of the road choice.

Here is a cave maturing Gruyere cheese in the Kaltbach Caves. They have been making cheeses since 1115AD