Common Quiche Pie Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Baked creams are all over the Thanksgiving dessert table. In addition to apple pie, in almost all holiday classics, you need to bake the sugar and egg paste until it hardens perfectly. It sounds simple enough, but quiches are notoriously tricky, especially when it comes to canned pumpkin.
The perfect quiche – all in technique. Nail it in and you’ll be rewarded with a silky smooth filling and crispy toasted baked goods, but spoil it and you’ll end up with a runny porridge or worse, a crust full of pumpkin-spiced scrambled eggs. The good news is, the rules for making the perfect custard are simple and finite. You have it. Here’s a start-to-finish guide on how to get rid of the awkward, teary, and frustrating cake on the Thanksgiving table for good.
Always blind baking
Custard pies need a crisp crust, so blind baked goods are non-negotiable. This has less to do with the amount of liquid that the filling emits – and it is much less than, say, raw apples – than with how long they have been in the oven. Most quiches will last less than an hour at 350ºF, which is simply not enough time to fully cook the custard and the crust underneath. Give your pie a head start with proper, slow and slow blind baking: line the corrugated dough with foil or parchment, weight with granulated sugar , place on a baking sheet for extra thermal conductivity, and bake at 350ºF for an hour.
Technology is your friend
Just because custards have been around since time immemorial does not mean that you are stuck in the old school. Whenever I need to bring an egg solution to a certain temperature, I do not whisk and steamer, but immediately take a stick blender and microwave – a method that gives more consistent results in the shortest possible time. Simply mix all the filling ingredients together, transfer to a microwave-safe container, and beat in 15 second increments until it thickens to the desired degree or reaches the set temperature. Pour into a blind crust and continue your day. Speaking of which …
Hot crust, hot custard, no waste
Pouring the hot filling into a barely thawed crust results in a dough crust and undercooked custard, and a cold filling in a hot crust is a one-way ticket to lumps and lumps. None of them are perfect. To keep the filling silky throughout, your crust and filling should be about the same temperature when they go into the oven.
I find the best – and fastest – results come from hot custard and freshly baked blind crusts. If you’re the type to bake and freeze shells, place the defrosted crusts in the 350ºF oven to warm them up before adding the custard. However, avoid baking the cold custard in cold shells; it will take so long to cook that you risk turning it into gum.
Low and slow is the best way
The highest oven temperature you can see in a quiche recipe is 375 ° F – if higher, you run the risk of curdling. For me, the optimal time is 35-45 minutes at 325 or 350 ° F, but accurate temperature matters less than avoiding rework at all costs. When the edges are firm but the center wiggles slightly as you shake the pan, your pie is done. Turn off the oven immediately, open the door – support it with a wooden spoon if necessary – and leave the cake in the oven until both are completely cool. Cooling down the baked custard gradually will prevent it from bloating, dropping, or wrinkling, so take your time.
At this point, you should have a great cake, but you’re not quite ready yet. The custard hardens as it cools, so if you want perfectly clean, sharp slices, the pie needs to freeze completely – and the only way to do this is to refrigerate overnight. Cover the cake with plastic wrap or foil, refrigerate overnight and allow to warm to room temperature before serving. No matter how you surpass them, the smoothest, silky custard of your life awaits you.