Chefs-Home Cooks! I'm making a quiche with a store bought shell and need to know if I should pre bake it?!
Answers:
I never pre bake the shell when I make quiche and it always comes out fine. But you could if you really wanted to. Make sure once you fill the pie shell that you cook it on a cookie sheet, don't just put the pies in the oven, because they will run over and make a mess!
No, you don't need to prebake quiche crusts. Quiche is one of those amazingly versitile dishes that can change as the ingredients in your kitchen change and is very simple to make. You need to establish some basic ratios and then just add filling to your heart's content. One recipe that I really like is from Robin MIller. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 cup cooked stir-fried vegetables
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
3/4 cup grated Cheddar
1/4 cup low fat milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Press pie crust into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch, removable-bottom tart pan (or 9-inch pie pan). Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine spinach, stir-fried vegetables and place on top of uncooked crust. In another bowl combine ricotta, cheddar, milk, eggs, Dijon, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Mix well. Spoon cheese mixture on top of vegetable mixture in prepared pie crust and top with Parmesan.
Bake 20 minutes, until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean and crust is golden brown.
I have found that when I use the store bought shell (the frozen ones) that if I don't pre bake them for about 10 minutes that the bottom crust tends to be somewhat soggy. Someone once told me to brush the bottom with oil or butter and it would prevent the crust from getting soggy, but I don't like adding more oil, so I just prebake.
bake the shell the same time you bake the quiche but try to cover the crust first half of baking and uncover the rest of the time.