French Quiche Lorraine with Cheese
The quiche base turns soggy because it is baked with the filling from the start. The fix is blind baking — the shell alone for 15 minutes with weights before the filling goes in, then brushed with egg yolk to seal it from the liquid custard.
- Prep
- 50 min
- Cook
- 50 min
- Total
- 100 min
- Calories
- 380
Quiche is a French savoury tart eaten hot or cold, and it works for breakfast or dinner. Its most common problem is a doughy, soggy base — and the solution is a technique called blind baking.
Method
-
1
Cold butter pastry
Rub the cold butter into the flour and salt with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs, then add the egg and iced water and bring it together without kneading.
⏱ 12 min -
2
Rest the dough
Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for an hour. Resting relaxes the gluten so the pastry does not shrink in the oven.
⏱ 62 min -
3
Roll and chill
Roll it out and line a tart tin, prick the base with a fork, and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Cold butter prevents shrinkage.
⏱ 18 min -
4
Blind bake
Line the base with baking paper and fill with beans or rice as weights, bake for 15 minutes at 190°C, then remove the weights and give it another 7 minutes.
⏱ 24 min -
5
Seal with egg yolk
Brush the hot shell with egg yolk and return it for two minutes. The yolk forms a barrier that stops the liquid filling soaking into the pastry.
⏱ 4 min -
6
The filling
Whisk the eggs, cream, milk, nutmeg and salt. Put the cheese and the well-drained filling into the shell and pour the custard over.
⏱ 8 min -
7
Final bake
Bake at 160°C for 35 minutes until the centre is set with a slight wobble. Higher heat curdles the eggs and weeps water.
⏱ 37 min -
8
Rest
Leave it 15 minutes before slicing. A hot quiche collapses; resting lets the filling settle and firm up.
⏱ 16 min
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Tips that actually matter
- Blind baking is not optional — it is the difference between a crisp base and wet pastry.
- Everything cold in the pastry: the butter, the water, and the bowl if you can.
- The filling must be cooked and thoroughly drained — any liquid will show up in the quiche.
- 160°C for the custard — higher heat curdles the eggs and gives a grainy texture.
People also ask
Why is my quiche base soggy?
You skipped the blind bake. Bake the shell alone for 15 minutes with weights, then brush it with egg yolk and return it for two minutes — the yolk seals the pastry from the liquid filling.
Why does my pastry shrink in the oven?
Either you worked it too much and developed the gluten, or you did not rest it. Bring it together without kneading, rest it an hour in the fridge, and freeze it for 15 minutes right before baking.
Why does the filling weep water?
Either the oven was too hot and the eggs curdled, or the filling (spinach or mushrooms) was not drained. Bake at 160°C, and cook, drain and squeeze any vegetables before they go in.
Cook mode
French Quiche Lorraine with Cheese
-
1
Cold butter pastry
Rub the cold butter into the flour and salt with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs, then add the egg and iced water and bring it together without kneading.
-
2
Rest the dough
Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for an hour. Resting relaxes the gluten so the pastry does not shrink in the oven.
-
3
Roll and chill
Roll it out and line a tart tin, prick the base with a fork, and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Cold butter prevents shrinkage.
-
4
Blind bake
Line the base with baking paper and fill with beans or rice as weights, bake for 15 minutes at 190°C, then remove the weights and give it another 7 minutes.
-
5
Seal with egg yolk
Brush the hot shell with egg yolk and return it for two minutes. The yolk forms a barrier that stops the liquid filling soaking into the pastry.
-
6
The filling
Whisk the eggs, cream, milk, nutmeg and salt. Put the cheese and the well-drained filling into the shell and pour the custard over.
-
7
Final bake
Bake at 160°C for 35 minutes until the centre is set with a slight wobble. Higher heat curdles the eggs and weeps water.
-
8
Rest
Leave it 15 minutes before slicing. A hot quiche collapses; resting lets the filling settle and firm up.
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