The Quiche Project Step 1: Crust
My Quiche Project
As promised in my last post, Lunch in a French Café: Quiche!, here are the details of my quiche-making journey.
A Dish of Your Own
Do you have a dish of your own, a recipe you can rely on, something you can make by heart? Not necessarily something fancy or sophisticated, but something you can confidently prepare in a variety of settings; even an AirBnB kitchen. My first dish of my own was risotto. I recently decided I wanted to add quiche to my “by heart” recipes, hence the Quiche Project. Are you interested? You can participate in your own Quiche Project; your quiche will likely be different from mine, but that’s the whole point.
Step 1 – The Crust
I began the project in search of a good crust recipe. I usually think of Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” as the source of classic recipes. However, her crust has a high percentage of butter (or butter and vegetable shortening). I made my first couple of attempts to her recipe, but I found the crust just too buttery. Looking further, I kept seeing another classic crust with a much higher ratio of flour to butter, but the crust was just too brittle and board-like. My goldilocks crust recipe came from a Technical Tartes class at La Cuisine Paris. Just the right ratio of flour to butter and the weights for each are easy to remember. Note that some recipes do not instruct par-baking the crust. I have tried both and I always par-bake my crust. Voila!
| Ingredient | Classic (2:1 flour:butter) On Va Deguster / Let’s Eat France! | Julia Child, NY Times 5:4 flour:butter | La Cuisine Paris 7:4 flour:butter |
| Flour T45, all purpose flour | 210g | 210 g (1.5 cups) | 210 g (1.5 cups) |
| Butter 80% fat | 105 g | 170 g | 120 g (4.25 oz) |
| Fine Sea Salt | 2 pinches | 4.5 g (3/4 tsp) | 6 g (1 tsp) |
| Liquid | 15-30 g water | 3-5 Tbsp ice cold water | 1 large egg + 5-15g (1-3 tsp) water if needed |
| Other | 3-5 | make it fancy: add 1 tsp dried herb of your choice. |
Crust Details
I like a 10 inch diameter pan for quiche, which yields 6 nice lunch size servings. A couple of notes:
• Julia Child says you should make the crust by hand, and I agree. You’ll get a better feeling for how everything comes together and how much water you’ll need.
• Julia Child also suggests fraisage, which is using the heel of your hand to complete a final blend of butter and flour.
• The trick of adding some herbs to the flour mixture comes from La Cuisine Paris. This adds a bit of visual interest to your crust as well as a nice flavor. Piment d’Espelette or Herbes de Provence are both good choices.
Page through the slide show below to see how I make my crust
Quiche Crust for 10 inch pan
This is the pâte brisée recipe for a 10 inch diameter pan based on the recipe from a tart class at La Cuisine Paris.
Ingredients
- 210g (1.5 cups) T45 or all purpose flour
- 6g (1 tsp) fine sea salt
- 6g (1 tsp) dried herbs of your choice
- 120g (4.25 oz) extra creamy unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- 5-15g (up to 1 Tbsp cold water)
Directions
- Mix together the flour, the sea salt, and the dried herbs in a large bowl.
- Cut the butter into small cubes, add it to the flour mixture and blend with the flour blender until the butter is broken into small pieces.
- Add the egg and begin to mix by hand. Add water as necessary.
- Turn the dough onto the counter and press the dough out by pushing with the heel of your hand (fraisage). This isn’t the same as kneading, just completing a final blend of butter and flour.
- Roll into a circle and flatten, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 190° C (375° F) convection.
- Roll out the crust, place in pan, poke holes in the base with a fork, cover with parchment paper and fill the pan with pie weights (I use chickpeas)
- Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Baking time depends on the material of your quiche pan.
Useful Alternative Recipes and Sources
• Excellent NY Times article on quiche
• Classic Craig Claiborne crust recipe
• Melissa Clark high butter crust recipe
• Nordicware quiche pan
• Mrs. Anderson’s Baking Pastry Cloth Frame
• Fletcher’s Mill Dowel Rolling Pin
Wine for Your Quiche
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie is an excellent choice for pairing with your quiche!
Domaine de la Pépière Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie AOC 2024 (13 euros locally in France) 11% abv
certified organic, biodynamic
Eye: pale lemon
Nose: Medium intensity aromas of apple blossom, fresh pear, wet stones,
Mouth: Dry, tangy high acidity, medium minus body, low alcohol, medium intensity flavors, medium plus finish. Flavors follow the nose, with addition of a lime note. Super fresh with a nice richness to the body from the lees aging.
Observations: Refreshing wine with excellent complexity and surprisingly long finish. Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie offers excellent value generally and this is a classic example. Bonus: this wine will continue to improve with time!
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