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It’s just a leek quiche. Looking at the title of this post it would be reasonable to ask “what’s with all the French, you dick?” Couldn’t I just say pie dough? Though I am a confessed francophile I didn’t word it this way just to be insufferable. There is an important distinction between the French style pâte brisé and the American pie dough. Let me explain.

Brisé means broken or crumbled and it’s a type of short bread. It is denser and crumblier and an American pie dough is flakier. They each have their place and they are each made from the same ingredients: flour, butter, salt, and sometimes egg and sugar. The difference is in the technique.

The same recipe below for pâte brisé could be used for any number of French style tarts or any other quiches you can imagine. I like quiche with a simple green salad and a bunch of Dijon mustard. Any light white wine or better yet a dry rosé would accompany it quite well.

A couple points to begin, most of my recipes will have a bizarre mix of metric and imperial reflecting my international disorientation. But when it comes to pastry I use all metric. In culinary school I learned that 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram. Clearly this is a vastly superior system of measurement. After all, do you know how many tablespoons are in a gallon? Me neither.

Also because I was taught in a very traditional, or even a bit backwards, culinary academy where kitchen appliances were very few. As a result I use my hands instead of mixers or food processors when I do pastry to point of Luddism. You can of course use more modern machinery.

Mise en place

Quiche aux Poireaux (Leek Quiche)

Pâte Brisé

300 g flour

250 g butter

1 tsp salt

1 egg (about 40 g)

10-20 ml cold water

Begin by cutting your butter into a medium dice and putting it in the freezer until it is very cold.

Add your salt to your flour. Add your cold butter to the flour. Either by hand or in a food processor, break down the butter until the pieces are no larger than a pea. If the mixture begins to get too warm and melt, pop it in the freezer for a few minutes.

Next add your egg and water. Mix it in until the mixture begins to come together. Add the full measure of water only if necessary.

Now dump the mixture onto a clean work surface. It will still be very crumbly at this stage and that’s what you want.

Next comes the step where it departs  from American pie dough. It what French chefs call fraisage. You basically smear the dough accross the work surface with the heal of your hand and then pull it back into the mixture. Repeat several times until bits of butter are no longer visible and the dough is homogenous.

Fraisage that shit

Form it into a disc and tightly wrap it in plastic wrap. Put it in the fridge for one hour minimum and up to 24 hours. This allows the dough to rest and hydrate and will help reduce the amount of shrinkage in the oven.

Once it has rested, prepare a 9″ pie pan or tarte ring by greasing it with butter.

Roll out the dough, dusting with flour only as needed. When the dough is about 1/4″ thick wrap it around your rolling pin then unroll it over your pan or tarte ring. Gently press the dough down into the corners with your knuckle, being careful not to tear it.

I leave the excess dough on the ring until after it is cooked, a technique I picked up from Bouchon, so that it does not shrink below the edge of the ring. It can be cut off once it is cooled.

When your pan is prepared return it to the fridge until it is cold again.

Quiche Filling

4 eggs

200 ml heavy cream

1 kg leeks (weight includes tops)

50 g comté or gruyère cheese

1 thick slice of bacon, minced

2 tbsp butter

fresh grated nutmeg

1 bay leaf

salt and white pepper

Preheat the oven to 200c/400f.

Wash and trim your leeks. For this we will only use the white parts. Thinly slice the leeks and add to a sauté pan with water, butter, bay leaf and a little salt.  Bring up to a slow simmer and allow the leeks to stew until they completely break down. Add more water as needed and be careful not to let the leeks caramelize. Once they are completely cooked reduce the water until they are dry and allow to cool.

Cook the bacon until just cooked though also without caramelizing.

In a large mixing bowl add your eggs, cream and nutmeg. Whisk rigorously until the mixture is frothy.

Grate about half of your cheese into your prepared dough-lined pan. Add your leeks and bacon and then grate the remainder of the cheese on top. Then pour in your egg mixture, stopping when you reach the top.

Carefully place into the center of the oven and allow to bake for about 25 minutes or until the egg is cooked.

Remove and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before serving.