Quiche Lorraine

Quiche crust

To make the dough by hand

1. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl, and mix to combine.
2. Add the cubed butter or grated butter. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour. The flour-butter mix should mostly resemble coarse bread crumbs or coarse wet sand, with some larger chunks.
3. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk with the 30 mL chilled water.
4. Add the egg mix to the flour, and mix it into the flour using a fork or floured hands. Mix the dough gently to bring the flour together to form dough clumps.
5. Add more iced water, one tablespoon at a time while mixing, until you get the right consistency. That is, a dough that looks dry, but when squeezed in your palm, it should form a clump of dough. If you did not use an egg yolk, you may need to add more water.

To make the dough with a food processor

1. Pulse the flour and salt mixture to mix. Add the butter mixture and pulse a few times until you get a mixture that resembles coarse sand, with some larger pieces of butter.
2. Stream the egg-water mixture, while pulsing. Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, and check to see if the mixture forms a clump of dough when squeezed in your palm.

For both methods of making the dough

1. Turn the crumbly dough out onto a parchment paper, and use the paper to press the dough together to form a dough disc. Be careful not to overhandle the dough at this point. The dough disc should have some dry spots. If the dough is really wet, sprinkle more flour on top.
2. Place the dough in a ziploc bag (or wrap in plastic wrap), and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour.

Lining pie dish with the pie crust

1. Flour a work surface (or pastry mat), and roll out the dough into a circle that is about 3 mm in thickness.
2. For even smoothness and to ensure that the dough does not shrink, turn the dough a quarter turn as you roll it out from the middle AND also flip the dough so that you roll it out on both sides. Also make sure that the dough doesn't stick to the surface by lightly flouring the dough as you go. If the dough starts to shrink as you roll it out, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 - 60 minutes.
3. Carefully place the rolled out dough in the pie dish, without over-stretching the dough. To do so, gently lift the dough and guide it to fit into the corners of the bottom of the pan.
4. Trim the excess crust, while leaving a small overhang. Make sure the crust at the bottom is still fairly thin. Fold the overhang and create a fluted crust edge (using a fork or your fingers). Dock the base of the pie crust and refrigerate the crust for at least 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.
5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C.
6. Before baking, take a large piece of aluminum foil and line the inside of the pie crust. If the foil piece is not big enough, line two pieces at 90 degrees to cover the entire inside of the crust. Make sure it lays flat against the crust. Next, fill the pie plate with sugar or rice up to ¾ full to be used as pie weights.
7. Bind bake the pie crust for 40 - 50 minutes, until it turns a light blonde color.
8. Remove from the oven and then very carefully remove the sugar and foil. Carefully dock the crust again, and return to the oven to be baked for a further 5 - 10 minutes, until the bottom of the crust looks dry and isjust starting to turn golden. Baking at the lower temperature will ensure that your quiche crust will hold its shape better and not shrink.
9. Remove from the oven and let it cool while you make the filling. The crust can also be made the day before.

Quiche Lorraine

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F / 162°C.
2. Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook them in a pan over medium heat until the pieces are just a little crispy at the edges, but not crispy throughout. Drain the fat and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, place the 5 eggs and whisk well.
4. Add the cream and half and half / milk and whisk very well to combine.
5. Set aside a handful of the cooked bacon. Add the rest of the bacon to the whisked eggs.
6. Add the salt, gruyere cheese, and chopped chives to the egg mix. Whisk to mix well. Set aside.
7. Carefully pour the filling into the par-baked crust. Use a spoon to gently move the cheese and bacon around so that it's evenly spread inside the quiche crust. If using goat cheese, dot the cheese over the surface of the quiche. Sprinkle the cooked bacon that you set aside on top as well.
8. Bake the quiche in the preheated oven for about 40 - 50 minutes. During the bake time, periodically check the quiche until the crust is a golden color.
9. When the crust is golden in color, carefully brush the crust with some egg wash. Continue to bake until the filling is baked through - the middle should still be just a little jiggly, but not runny.
10. If the crust is darkening too much or burning, use a crust cover (foil or silicone) to cover the crust. However, I do not find that I need to use this because the quiche is baked at a lower temperature throughout here.
11. Once the quiche is baked, remove from the oven and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Ideally, let it rest for about 30 minutes before serving, to allow for the egg custard to properly set.
12. Serve the quiche while still warm or at room temperature with a side salad.