Quiche Lorraine is a French tart filled with eggs, cream and ham or bacon. It’s buttery and decadent, and super popular in the bakeries and cafes of France. It is normally eaten on its own or with a side of salad as a meal. If you can’t go to France to try it out then this recipe will help you recreate it in the comfort of your home! It’s super easy to make and will sure impress any eater when you whip this up for Sunday breakfast.

The ingredients you’ll need for this recipe and some tips!

1. The pastry: it’s a buttery short-crust pastry that’s made up of flour, butter, water and salt. The pastry has a high butter content because when the butter melts in the oven, it creates flakiness which is exactly what we want in our crust. Super easy to make but you can also opt for store-bought pastry if it’s easier for you.
2. Butter: it’s super important that you keep your butter nice and cold. We want flakiness. If the butter is too soft and melted then it will incorporate with the flour and you will lose the flakiness.
3. Water: similarly, the water will also need to be cold to prevent the butter from melting and incorporating with the flour.
4. Bacon: bacon is a common ingredient in quiche lorraince and it adds quite a nice flavour and saltiness. If you cannot eat pork, please substitute for turkey bacon or leave it out completely.
5. Egg mixture: the base is essentially eggs, cream and cheese, then you can add any toppings you might like. Traditionally it’s ham or bacon and onion or leeks. You can definitely omit the ham if you cannot eat pork.
6. Cheeses: i used a mixture of gruyere and parmesan. Traditionally it is made with purely gruyere cheese but i find parmesan adds that nice sharpness to the quiche. If you cannot find gruyere cheese, you can substitute with fontina or swiss cheese.
7. Parsley: for health lol
8. Storage: highly recommend you to consume this fresh out of the oven and within 4 hours for best taste. If you would like to store this for later, you can store in an air-tight container and in the fridge for up to 4 days.
9. Prepare in advance: if you are hosting and would like to prepare this in advance, there are a few things you could frontload! I recommend you prepare the dough and line it in the pan unbaked, covered and store it in the fridge the day before you bake. You could also prepare the egg mixture in advance and leave it in the fridge until you’re ready as well. On the day, you can assemble and bake everything 30 minutes before serving.

Ingredients

Pastry:
200g plain flour
100g butter, cubed (keep cold)
2-5 tbsp water
1tsp salt

Egg Mixture:
4 eggs
1 cup cream
1 leek, chopped (white part only)
4-5 rashers of bacon, diced
1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
parsley, for garnish

Method

1. Dough: in a bowl, rub together your flour, butter and salt until mixture resembles wet sand. Then slowly add in the water, one tablespoon at a time, work it into mixture until a dough ball just forms. Don’t over-knead the dough, it’s not supposed to be smooth and perfect, you want to see specks of butter and flour. Cover with cling wrap and refridgerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
3. Once chilled, roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper until it’s 3mm (1/8 inch) thin. Remove one sheet of parchment paper, press the dough into a tart tin and remove the 2nd sheet of parchment paper. Place the same sheet of parchment loosely on top of the dough and fill it with dough weights or uncooked rice and par bake for 10 minutes. Set aside
4. While the tart shell is par baking, prepare the bacon and leeks. In a bacon over medium heat, add in the bacon to tender the fat and make it crispy. Remove the crispy bacon and set aside.
5. In the same pot, add in the leeks and sweat it out until it’s soft and translucent. Remove and set aside.
6. Egg Mixture: in a bowl, combine the eggs, cream, Gruyere cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well.
7. Assemble: Remove the dough weights and parchment paper from the tart shell. Add a layer of leeks and bacon into the tart shell and then pour the egg mixture over it, make sure to not over-pour as the egg will puff up in the oven. Top with parmesan cheese and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the surface is golden brown.
8. Let the quiche cool and garnish with parsley.