Quiche

Breakfast, as I have mentioned before, is my favorite meal. Eggs, bacon, onions, mushrooms, and cheese come together in this open faced pastry crust to form a delicious quiche. If you make the dough ahead of time, this dish can be prepared fast, and it will pull together the people to eat it even faster! It is a simple, filling, and impressive looking dish when you have it out on the table waiting to be served.

Ingredients: (yields one 8 inch quiche)

Crust:

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoons of sugar
• 5 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
• 3 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening, chilled
• 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons of ice cold water

Filling:

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup of yellow onion, chopped fine
• 1/3 cup of mushroom, chopped fine
• 4 grinds of fresh black pepper
• 1/2 cup of cream
• 4 oz of swiss cheese, grated
• 4 slices of bacon

I started with the crust. In a medium sized bowl I mixed together 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

To the flour mixture I cut in 5 1/2 tablespoons of butter and 3 1/2 tablespoons of shortening. I cut in the butter until the mixture was crumbly.

To the flour mixture I added 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of very cold water. I mixed it together with a fork until the dough came together.

I shaped the dough into a ball and lightly dusted both sides of the dough with flour. Then I slightly flattened the dough and wrapped it in plastic wrap. I placed the dough into the refrigerator for 1 hour.

With 20 minutes left on the chilling time I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and greased an 8-inch quiche dish.

Once the hour was up, I removed the dough and let it sit out for 10 minutes to make it easier to work with.

Then I lightly dusted both sides of the dough and rolled it out between two pieces of wax paper.

I placed the dough into the quiche dish and shaped it to the dish.

On top of the dough I placed a large round of parchment paper I had cut over the dough.

I weighted it down with an even layer of dry beans. I made sure the beans were packed snugly to the edges.

I baked the crust on a cookie sheet for about 20 minutes. While the crust was baking I got started on the filling.

In a frying pan I cooked 4 slices of bacon until fully cooked and set them aside to cool.

Once the 20 minutes was up I carefully removed the parchment with the beans and baked the crust for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes was up I let the crust cool.

To get started on the assembly I added 2 ounces of swiss cheese.

Then I added the mushroom and onion mixture, 4 slices of crumbled bacon, and the last 2 ounces of swiss cheese.

To the filling I added the egg and cream mixture.

I baked the quiche for 30 minutes rotating halfway through. I made sure the edges were set and there was a slight jiggle to the center.

This quiche made for a nice brunch time meal. The smokey bacon, peppery mushrooms, and onions played well off the surrounding fluffy eggs with gooey cheese. The flaky crust was perfect to hold all of the flavors with each bite.