sansansan: Quiche Lorraine / Pie Pastry

October 16, 2008

Pie Pastry

Ingredients	Grams	Comment
Flour	300g	All purpose flour
Lard	150g	or butter or non emulsified shortening (KEEP COLD)
Salt	3g
Water	+/- 100g	as cold/icy as possible
Brown Sugar	tt	optional - for sweet pie crust

Yield: 1 pie crust

Sift flour and salt together.
Add fat and rub with the flour until pea sized nuggets, bigger pieces of fat = flaky texture
Add water, mix just enough to form a ball, DO NOT OVERWORK the dough (or you'll end up with a very tough crust).
Let dough rest 20mins in fridge
Roll out to 5mm thick and put onto pie plate, crimp edges dock lightly.
Put back to the fridge for 5-10mins before putting into the stove
Blind bake: put rice/beans inside the pie crust to keep it from rising during baking, or poke holes gently with the knife on the inside of the pie
Bake in 325F for ~15mins or until cooked

NOTES:
- Can you different flours
- Can add herbs and/or ground peppercorn

Quiche Lorraine

Yield: 4 portions

Heat butter and fry mushrooms and bacon till half crisp.
Add onions and sweat till sweet.
Break eggs into stainless steel bowl and beat well. Add seasonings (the tt stuff).
Scald (just starting to warm, no steam, no bubble) milk with nutmeg and pour slowly into egg mixture, stirring continuously.
Whisk egg mixture till you get lots of foam
Spoon garnish (fried mushrooms/bacon/onions/etc) into egg mixture. Add cheese. (Try to keep the foam from 5 - they hold the garnish up so the end product won't be separated into 2 layers).
Pour egg mixture into pie shell
Bake in 325F for ~30mins or until set (best to take it out when its just cooked - it cooks on its own after you take it out from the oven)

NOTES:
- DO NOT increase oven heat to over 350F - will cause custard to turn hard/tough
- Can add herb and/or Parmesan cheese

October 16, 2008