This month we’re serving up a Traditional Quiche Lorraine – perfect for picnics, garden lunches or light summer suppers. This timeless favourite is all about crisp pastry and silky-smooth custard, made with just a handful of ingredients — and surprisingly, no cheese!
Traditional quiche is worth the effort – a simple yet indulgent dish that never goes out of style.
Preparation time:
10 mins
Chill: 20 mins + 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hr 10 mins
Serves 6
For the rough puff pastry:
225g plain flour
225g very cold butter
100ml iced water
For the filling:
200g dry cure smoked streaky bacon, chopped
320ml double cream
4 eggs and 2 egg yolks (use 1 of the egg whites for brushing the pastry)
Method
Sift the flour with a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Grate the chilled butter into the flour. Use your hands to gently squeeze everything together, so the flour combines with the lumps of butter until it looks ‘rough’ (as the name suggests), NOT like breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle a little iced water over the mixture and stir it into the mixture. Continue to add just enough water to bring it into a dough but don’t over mix it, then cover with clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Lightly flour the work surface and shape the dough into a rectangle. Roll it out until it’s about three times its original length.
Fold the top third over to the centre, then fold the bottom third over the top third, so the dough has three layers. Turn it one quarter turn (90 degrees) and roll out again until three times the length, repeat the folding, wrap in clingfilm, and chill for another 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven along with a baking tray to 180C / fan 160 / Gas mark 4. Roll out the chilled pastry and line a deep 20cm diameter tin. Leave an extra couple of centimetres of pastry to overhang the tin to account for shrinkage. Line with foil (shiny side down) and weight down with baking beads or rice. Place the tin on the baking tray and blind bake in the oven for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and beads. Bake for a further 8 minutes, then brush the base with egg white and put back into the oven for 5 minutes. Carefully trim the overhanging pastry to neaten.
Fry the bacon for 8–10 minutes, until cooked through, but not crisp. Drain and spread half over the hot base.
Place the cream along with the eggs and yolks into a large bowl with a pinch of salt, and beat together slowly until combined, then give it a fast whisk for 30 seconds until frothy. Fill the cooked pastry case, then sprinkle over the rest of the bacon. Bake for 20 minutes but keep checking – it’s cooked when it puffs up but remains wobbly at the centre. It tastes best at room temperature so allow to cool before serving.
