Quintessential Quiche Lorraine

For many cooks, making a quiche is a big deal. As we wrote in our story about quiche, that’s not the way it’s seen in France, where it’s considered a simple, everyday dish.

That’s why when we set out to develop a recipe for classic quiche Lorraine, we wanted to keep things quick and simple as possible. In fact, even including making the crust and prepping the other ingredients, it is less than an hour of active work — and that includes clean-up, which I’m able to nearly finish just as the filled quiche is going into the oven. While it bakes (35 to 45 minutes) and rests 10 minutes or so, you can make a simple green salad, and voilà — a fabulous dinner or brunch.

Our crust is a pâte brisée (short crust) that comes together in a snap in the food processor. Because it’s made quickly and handled so little, glutens don’t have time to develop, and it stays tender, even if you don’t chill it before and after rolling it out.

The dough is easy to handle, it stays together and it’s generous enough to easily fit a deep-dish pie pan without having to roll it out too thin. If you do get a tear or bald spot once you fit it into the pan, don’t worry — you can patch it with the trimmings.

The butter needs to be chilled hard, so if it gets soft while you’re cutting it up, chill it in the fridge a few minutes before starting. If you prefer to make this crust by hand, using a pastry cutter or your fingers, it would be best to chill it 30 minutes before rolling it out.

Unlike the original quiche Lorraine, whose filling only included eggs, cream and bacon, ours also includes lightly caramelized onion. A variation at the end of the recipe offers simple instructions for adding cheese.

You’ll need a pie pan that’s 9 to 9 1/2 inches in diameter, and two inches deep.

Serves 4 - 6.

Ingredients

For the Pâte Brisée crust

180 g all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups, 6.5 ounces), plus additional for rolling the dough

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

9 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes