I make - Quiche Lorraine With Crème Fraîche Pastry

I started to realize one thing (finally), "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Or rather, don't mess with it. All these years I've tried to minimize the fat content of my pie crust. The fact of the matter is, the less fat you add in , the more difficult the dough is to work with. Also, the less the ingredients, the easier it is, in all aspects. So I am slowly reverting back to the traditional pâte brisée recipe, with twice as much flour as fat by weight. It's easy to remember and flexible enough to tinker (yes, I know what I just said in the beginning).

Crème Fraîche Pastry

- 200 g gluten-free flour blend

- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

- 1/4 tsp baking powder (optional)

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1.5 tsp sugar

- 80 g cold butter (butter spread works well)

- 4 tbsp cold crème fraîche* + 1 yolk, plus extra crème fraîche if needed

- a large piece of cling film

- an egg white, beaten to brush the par-baked crust (optional)

Quiche Lorraine Filling

Combine flour, xanthan gum, baking powder (if using), salt and sugar in a large bowl. Mix to combine. Weight in cold butter and use a pastry cutter or flexible bench scraper to cut the butter into flour mixture. I prefer butter spread because it's easier to work with without much loss of flavor. When large bread crumbs are formed, spoon in 4 tablespoons of crème fraîche mixed with a yolk. Use a rubber spatula to mix to form a cohesive dough. If the dough is still crumbly when squeeze between fingers, add more crème fraîche, one tablespoon at a time. Alternatively, you could just use crème fraîche to form the dough. The yolk is for additional richness.

Lay a large piece of cling film on the working surface where you can tip out the pastry dough. Use cling film to gather the dough together to form a round dough shape. You will need to gently press the dough a few times for this. When a dough is formed without any loose crumbs, wrap the dough completely with the working cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. This allows the flour to be hydrated further. 

Preheat the oven at 180C. Roll the dough out to fit your pie dish. Because it's gluten-free flour, it's bound to break easily. Just handle delicately. It helps to roll between two pieces of cling film (or nonstick baking paper). With more practice, you will be able to shift the rolled-out dough onto the pie dish without too much patch work afterwards. Pierce the bottom of the pie crust with a fork or tip of a knife. Line the top of the crust with a large piece of baking paper and cover with ceramic baking beads. That's the only way to prevent crust shrinking for me. Bake for 15 minutes at 180C. Carefully remove the baking beads and the paper and put the crust back for another 8 minutes. After this, the crust is ready to be filled. I like to have an additional step to brush with the beaten egg and bake another 5 minutes but it's optional.

During the crust is baking, prepare the quiche filling as previously described. Turn the oven to 200C. Fill the crust as follows: first scatter some grated cheese to cover the bottom of the quiche, then the lardon/onion mixture, pour the custard in and finally more grated cheese on the top. Bake the quiche at 200C for 30 minutes, rotate the quiche 180 degrees half way through.

*Note: crème fraîche can be replaced with cold milk mixed with vodka. Vodka brings the dough together like water but it's alcohol evaporates during baking which gives a crispy crust. Start with 2 tablespoons of the liquid mixture before adding more.