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Quiche Crust Recipe

Cheese Pastry

This quiche crust recipe is ideal for most easy quiche recipes.

It is light and meltingly crisp. You can also use this as an easy pie crust recipe for an apple pie. Meal planning tip: make a double quantity of this quiche crust recipe. Use half for one of our Spinach Quiche recipes and the other for our easy Apple Pie recipe. Sounds odd using a cheese pastry for Apple Pie but it is delicious.

Easy

Preparation time: 5 mins (using a processor) 10 mins (by hand)

Cooking time: approx 30 minutes, depending on recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon salt

6 oz / 170g butter or white lard, cut into cubes

1 cup loosely packed cheddar cheese (about 2 oz / 60 g)

4 - 5 tablespoons cold water

1 egg beaten (for an egg wash)

Method by hand:

Add the salt to the flour.
Rub the butter or lard into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs and starts to clump slightly.
Add the cheese.
Finally, add the water a little at a time. Clump the dough together and form into a ball. Wrap the quiche crust recipe in grease-proof paper and refrigerate for about half an hour.

Processor method:

If you are using a processor, add the flour and salt to the bowl. Add the cubed butter and process for about half a minute until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs or starts to clump together slightly.
Switch off the motor. Add the cheese and process for a few seconds.
Add the water and pulse between additions until the mixture clumps. Don't process until the mixture forms a ball as I find that this "toughens" the dough. Remove the dough and shape into a ball gently by hand. Wrap in grease-proof paper and refrigerate for about half an hour.

Quiche Crust Recipe - Baking Blind:

This term refers to baking the pie shell before adding the filling. This is a method that I favor even if I am adding a filling which still has to be cooked. You get a really crisp pastry - not a soggy, half-cooked apology under the filling. If the filling is still to be cooked, for example, a quiche filling, I cover the edges of the pastry with silver foil. This seems arduous, but in fact, takes no time and is worth the effort. The method is unorthodox but it works - tried and tested over the years!

Pre-heat oven to 400° F / 200° C.
Line the pastry case with tin foil and fill it with beans or pastry weights. This will help to stop the sides of the pie shrinking during the cooking process.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and the beans (the beans can be stored for later use). Bake uncovered for a further 10 minutes, until the pastry is golden and slightly crisp.
Brush the pastry shell with the egg wash. Place back in the oven for a further 2 minutes until the egg sets. This acts as a kind of barrier and prevents the pastry becoming soggy when the filling is added.
Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack. The pastry will crisp as it cools.

If the filling still has to be cooked:

Once the filling has been put into the pie crust, cut the foil into strips and place loosely on the edges of the pastry in order to stop them burning during the cooking process.