How to Make Quiche
How to Bake and Recipes

Learn how to make quiche by following these simple steps and recipes. Quiche making is really quite simple and requires little time and attention to produce great results.

Pan

Use a shallow tart pan (about 1 inch high) when making a quiche. If you use a regular pie pan, you risk to fill it too high which will make it difficult to cook the quiche through without drying out the edges.

Crust

Quiche can be made with either regular pie crust (pâte brisé here in France) or with a puff pastry (pâte feuilletée). If you don't have the time or just don't like making crusts (like me), go ahead and use a packaged one. I use pastry dough that comes in a round - I just unroll it and fit it to the pan. Use a rolling pin to roll over the edges firmly, cutting off the excess dough, and giving your crust a nice finish.

Blind baking: Prebaking the crust before adding the other ingredients keeps it crisp. To blind bake, prick the crust all over with the tines of a fork, then place the pan in the freezer for at least twenty minutes. Remove from the freezer and immediately place in the oven set at 400°F for 12 minutes. Some people line the pan with foil and pie weights or beans as well, but unless your going for the baker of the year award, it really isn't necessary. After baking the crust, allow it to cool for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients.

How to Make Quiche Optional: Using a pastry brush, paint the bottom of the crust with egg white after it comes out of the oven. This will put a seal on the crust and make it crisper.

Crustless Quiche: If you are really in a hurry or trying to save on calories, consider a crustless quiche. Just grease your quiche pan lightly before adding the ingredients, then follow any quiche recipe skipping the instructions for the crust.

Eggs

The proportion of eggs to other ingredients in quiche recipes can vary. I usually go for about 4 eggs to 1 1/2 cups cream or other dairy product.

Using more eggs and less cream, gives you a firmer, less creamy consistency.

Cream

Wondering how to make quiche with different dairy products? I prefer crème fraîche - it adds a lovely flavor and always makes a light creamy quiche.

You can also use heavy cream, half and half, or even whole milk. If you make your quiche with low fat milk, it will come out rubbery and even watery -- better to use a full fat product and eat a little less of something really tasty if you are concerned about calories.

Other ingredients

You can add just about anything you want to your basic quiche recipe. When adding vegetables you may need to tenderize them slightly by blanching. Tomatoes should be seeded otherwise they add too much liquid and you get a runny quiche.

When adding meat or seafood, you will want to cook this separately beforehand.

Many quiche recipes include cheese. Some soft cheeses don't grate easily, so you will need to dice them.

How to make quiche, seasonings: Classic quiche seasonings are salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg, but do try different herbs, mustard, or even a pinch of cayenne pepper.

For other filling ideas see this basic quiche recipe.

Assembling and Baking Quiche

Once you have your prebaked pie crust cooled, spread the various ingredients on the bottom of the crust, adding the cheese last. Then whisk together the eggs, cream, and seasonings and pour on top. It's important not to over beat the egg mixture, just get it blended. Quiche does best in a fairly hot oven (375° F) for about 40 minutes. Be careful not to over cook.

How to Make Quiche Tip: If you are a bit shaky getting a liquid filled quiche pan from counter top to oven, pour the egg mixture into a pitcher (a large pyrex measuring cup works well - you can even whisk your liquid ingredients in this). Place your crust with the dry ingredients on the oven rack and then pour the liquid ingredients on.

Serving Quiche

Quiche slices more cleanly if you allow it to cool some. To rewarm a quiche, it is best to do so in an oven. Placing quiche in the microwave will turn it rubbery. Most quiches taste fine at room temperature which is a good option if you are bringing it to a party.

Quiche freezes well. You might like to freeze it in slices for convenience. Thaw and then warm in the oven to serve.

Now that you know the basics of how to make a a quiche, be sure to try one of the quiche recipes here on Easy French Food.