Ingredient

Quiche

A quiche is a savoury custard in a pastry case, and it has two failure points that have nothing to do with each other: a base that goes soggy, and a filling that curdles. Both are entirely preventable.

The soggy bottom

Wet custard poured into raw pastry soaks in before the pastry has a chance to set. The answer is to bake the case blind — fully, not partly — and then to seal it.

Line the chilled pastry case with parchment and baking beans, bake until the sides are set and dry, then remove the beans and bake again until the base is genuinely golden and sandy, not pale. Underbaked blind pastry is the main cause of sogginess.

Then brush the hot case with beaten egg and return it to the oven for two minutes. The egg cooks into a thin waterproof film. This step takes almost no time and does more than anything else.

A metal tin conducts heat far better than ceramic and gives a much crisper base. Ceramic quiche dishes look better and bake worse.

The custard

A useful ratio is one egg to roughly 120ml of dairy.

All cream

Richest, softest set, least likely to curdle. The classic.

Cream and milk

Lighter and perfectly good. Half and half is a sensible default.

All milk

Sets firmer and is more prone to weeping. Add an extra yolk to compensate.

Extra yolks

Richer and softer. Yolk sets more gently than white.

Seasoning

Salt, white pepper, nutmeg. A custard needs more salt than seems right.

The method

1. Make and chill shortcrust pastry, line the tin, and chill it again for at least half an hour. Cold pastry shrinks less.
2. Blind bake fully — beans in until the sides set, then beans out until the base is golden.
3. Brush with beaten egg and return to the oven briefly to seal.
4. Cook the filling separately and drain it. Bacon rendered and crisped, onions softened, spinach wilted and squeezed dry, mushrooms browned. Nothing goes in raw or wet.
5. Scatter the filling and cheese into the case, then pour the custard around it. Filling first stops everything floating to the top.
6. Bake at a moderate-low heat, around 160–170°C, until the custard is set at the edges with a slight wobble in the middle.
7. Cool for at least twenty minutes before cutting. It sets further as it cools.

What goes wrong

• Soggy base — case not blind-baked enough, not sealed, or a ceramic dish.
• Weeping, watery filling — overbaked, or wet vegetables. See syneresis.
• Curdled, grainy custard — oven too hot. Quiche wants a low oven; 200°C will curdle it.
• Pastry shrunk down the sides — over-worked or under-chilled pastry. Chill it twice and do not stretch it into the tin.
• Cracked top — overbaked, and usually cosmetic.
• Bland — under-seasoned custard, and not enough of a strong cheese.

Common questions