Quiche Lorraine – Back to the French Basics

There are so many Quiche Lorraine recipes floating around, at first I thought, “Why bother doing another one?” But then I realised that Quiche Lorraine is a French dish, so let’s get down and reveal those basic French techniques that make this recipe such a classic!

To make the pastry crust for a quiche, it’s easy to just pop the flour and butter in a food processor, pulse for a few seconds, add the egg and water and let the machine turn out a ‘perfect dough’ for you. But here are a few techniques I leaned at the Cordon Bleu School in Paris that will help you to make an authentic Quiche Lorraine. In the words of Julia Child, “A good French pastry crust should be tender, crunchy and buttery.”

To make a good French pastry dough, your hands, fingers and arm become active, first rubbing the butter and flour together with your palms, then ‘kneading’ the dough using the heel of your hand, ending with a perfect ball of dough. Almost feels like a gym workout after you’ve finished!

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 Method for Making the Dough for the Quiche Lorraine

Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu school

Ingredients

• 100 g (8 Tbsps or 1/2 cup) cold butter, cubed
• 200 g flour (1 1/2 cups)
• pinch salt
• 1 egg
• 2 – 3 tbsp. cold water

Step 1 –  Sabler the butter and flour together

Cut the cold butter into cubes and then add to the flour and salt in a large bowl. Rub the butter and flour together briskly between the palms of your hands and tips of your fingers until it becomes like sand. Since sable is the word for ‘sand’ in French, this technique is called sabler.

 

The end result: your dough should resemble fine sand.

Step 2 – Make a well in the middle of the dough and add 1 egg.

Step 3 – Mix the ingredients and transfer to your work surface

Mix the egg into the flour/butter mixture, then add 2 – 3 tbsp. cold water. The dough should be moist and be able to hold together its shape. Transfer the rough dough mixture onto a floured surface and gather into a mound shape, using the aid of a pastry scraper.

Step 4– Fraiser the dough on the work surface.

Using the heel of your hand, push one portion of the dough along the work surface with an outward movement. Regather the dough using the aid of the pastry scraper. Repeat several times until the dough comes together into a firm ball. This technique is called fraiser la pâte or le fraisage (the final blending of flour and butter).

 Fraiser la pâte :  Push a portion of the dough away from you, using the heel of your hand.

 Repeat several times until you form a firm dough ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or longer until firm.

Next steps: roll out the dough on a floured surface, turning the dough 1/4 turns as you go. Roll the dough so that it overhangs 2 cm over the edge of the quiche tin.

Next, pass a rolling pin across the top of the quiche mould so that it cuts through the dough and then lift the excess dough away from the mold.

Prick the dough with the ends of a fork, add parchment paper and pie weights to the quiche tin, then blind bake for 15 minutes (see instructions for my post on White Chocolate Tart with Cherries in Red Wine Sauce).

You’re now ready to add the quiche filling to complete your delicious authentic Quiche Lorraine!