French recipe
Quiche Lorraine
A homemade butter crust filled with smoky bacon, eggs, cream and a little Gruyère. Blind baking keeps the base crisp beneath the tender custard.
France
01
Ingredients
- 250 g
plain flour, for the pastry
- 20 g
extra flour, for dusting
- 130 g
unsalted butter, divided 125 g for pastry and 5 g for the tin
- 70 ml
ice-cold water, 60 ml initially and 10 ml reserved
- 4 g
salt, divided 3 g for pastry and 1 g for custard
- 175 g
smoked bacon, cut into short strips
- 4
large eggs
- 200 ml
heavy cream
- 150 ml
whole milk
- 75 g
Gruyère, grated
- 1 g
black pepper
- 0.2 g
ground nutmeg
02
Method
- 01
Rub butter into flour
Mix the flour for the pastry with 3 g salt. Rub or pulse in 125 g cold cubed butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few small butter pieces; stop before it turns pasty.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 02
Hydrate and chill
Mix in 60 ml cold water just until the dough holds when pressed. Add reserved water in 5 ml portions only if dry. Press into a disc, wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 03
Line the tart tin
Grease a 23 cm tart tin with 5 g butter. Roll dough on the dusted surface to about 4 mm thick, line without stretching, trim and prick the base. Chill the lined tin 15 minutes.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 04
Blind bake the crust
Heat the oven to 180°C. Line pastry with baking paper and weights; bake 20 minutes. Lift out paper and weights carefully and bake 8 minutes more until the base looks dry and lightly golden.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 05
Cook and drain bacon
Cook bacon over medium heat for 5–6 minutes until cooked and lightly golden, without making it hard. Drain on a rack or paper towel and let it cool while mixing the custard.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 06
Mix the egg custard
Whisk eggs, cream, milk, remaining 1 g salt, pepper and nutmeg just until combined. Stir in the grated cheese. Avoid whipping in foam, which leaves holes in the baked filling.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 07
Fill the baked shell
Set the tart tin on a baking tray. Scatter two thirds of the bacon in the shell, pour in custard to just below the rim, and distribute the remaining bacon on top.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 08
Bake the custard
Lower the oven to 170°C and bake 35–45 minutes. The centre should reach 74°C and wobble slightly without a liquid wave. Shield the pastry edge with foil if it darkens early.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 09
Rest before unmoulding
Place the tin on a rack for 15 minutes so the custard settles. Loosen the edge carefully and remove the outer ring only once the pastry feels firm enough to support the filling.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph - 10
Slice and serve
Cut into six wedges with a sharp knife, wiping the blade between cuts. Lift slices with a broad spatula and serve warm, showing the bacon custard above the crisp base.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
03
Sources and photo credit
This standardized method was independently rewritten after cross-checking the references below. Recipe Nest Vault does not claim that the credited photographer cooked from this exact version.
Recipe references
Quiche de Lorraine — Photograph by Donna Alvita; CC BY-SA 4.0.
Step illustrations: Original illustrations created by Recipe Nest Vault with OpenAI image_gen.
More French recipes
More French recipes
2 hr
French Onion Soup
1 hr 15 min
Provençal Ratatouille
1 hr 30 min