Anybody else been watching The Great British Bake Off? I am a fresh convert to the indulgences of reality television, but nothing else I've seen has measured up to the quaint idiosyncrasies and gentle innuendos perpetuated by the spectacularly bespectacled Prue Leith. Prue famously hates a soggy bottom. With this in mind, I thought I'd share this easy quiche recipe for aspiring bakers who are intimidated by cooking and baking.
For the record, I am not a baker. I am an enthusiastic cook and have a healthy appreciation for food science, but baking takes it one step too far for me. Baking requires both precision and patience, ingredients that are noticeably missing from my internal recipe.
That's why I like the cheat's crust in this recipe. You can enjoy all the glorious benefits of a flaky, buttery homemade quiche crust without the fuss of rolling, chilling, and shaping a dough. I'll leave that to the GBBO, thanks.
Because this crust is so dastardly easy, this recipe is ideal for kitchen beginners. Quiche is a famously forgiving medium for a medley of ingredients, so it's easy to make substitutions. I've made this one with a classic combination of bacon and Peppadews, but you can add anything you like — spinach, mushrooms, feta, butternut. Just make sure that your ingredients are cooked before you add them to the mixture, or else you'll end up with raw filling and a (gasp!) soggy bottom.
What you'll need from the shops to make this easy quiche recipe
A cup of flour
Four eggs
Milk
100g of cold butter
Salt and pepper
Baking powder
Cheese (cheddar works best)
Filling of choice — I used bacon and Peppadews
You will also need a suitably deep baking tray and a large mixing bowl.
How to make this easy quiche recipe (with cheat's crust)
Step One: Prep your kak
First, preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius. For optimal efficiency, you should also season and cook your filling ingredients so that they're ready to go when it comes to putting the mixture in the oven. If you're following this recipe, that means:
Cooking your bacon
Chopping the cooked bacon into bits
Finely slicing the Peppadews (I used scissors, don't tell anyone)
Combine your cooked filling ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Step Two: Make the cheat's crust
First, grate a small handful of cheddar and set aside. Next, cube your cold butter into cubes of a similar size and pop them back in the fridge. The colder they are, the better for the crust.
In your mixing bowl, combine the cup of flour with the cold butter cubes.
Now get in there with your bare hands and rub the butter and flour together. This entails pinching and rolling the cubes between your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Once the mixture looks a but like this, mix through your grated cheddar. The butter must stay as cold as possible, so don't overwork the mixture. You can pop this back in the fridge if your kitchen is warm.
Step Three: Blind bake the crust
Once the mixture has had about ten minutes to chill in the fridge, take it out and sprinkle a bit of the mixture into your baking tray to make the base of the crust. Be careful not to make it too thick, or it won't cook through. Gently press the mixture down with your fingers.
Once the base is firm, you can begin building out the walls of the crust. The skills you honed constructing sandcastles out of damp sand as a child will come in handy here.
Pop this into the hot oven and let it bake until it begins to go golden, which will take about 10-15 minutes.
Step Four: Make the filling
In a mixing bowl, combine your eggs, about a quarter cup of milk, a pinch of salt, pepper, and about half a teaspoon of baking powder.
Mix vigorously with a fork or a whisk. Next, fold in your cooked ingredients. The mixture should look something like this:
Step Five: Bake the quiche
Finally, carefully pour the egg mixture into your blind-baked crust container. Use a fork to distribute the cooked ingredients evenly.
Shove the entire thing back into the hot oven and let it cook for about 20-25 minutes, or until the top is browned. Test with a knife to ensure that the egg mixture has cooked all the way through. Fair warning: you are more likely to overcook the eggs into a dense, rubbery mixture, so keep a close eye on the oven.
Step Six: Serve and enjoy
The buttery, cheesy crust is truly the star of the show here. It complements the savoury egg mixture beautifully and pairs very well with a spicy tomato jam or chutney on the side. Dress up this rustic quiche with a side salad or embrace your truest self and eat it straight out of the baking tray with a spoon. That's what I do, anyway.
With lots of love,
The Life & Style Team
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