Make a breakfast quiche that everyone will love when you follow these 7 tips

Quiche is so extremely good. It's really just a custard made of milk and eggs that's baked into a pie shell. But perhaps it's the word "custard" or "pie" that makes people get so incredibly intimidated by it. Quiche it seems, is one of those culinary delights that can stop people dead in their tracks. And when they want it, they'll usually turn to the professionals, whether it's buying one frozen or visiting the nearest restaurant where it's on offer.

But quiche really doesn't have to be that hard. In fact, it can be one of the easier things to pull together after a long day at work, or when there's a brunch happening and you need to impress. In fact, breakfast quiches can be some of the most satisfying, as you can have your eggs and proteins all in one and give old flavors a new twist. So stop letting quiche intimidate you in the kitchen. Follow these tips and the next time you're on breakfast duty, pull one of these out of the oven and wait for the applause.

Pie crust goes through a lot before it makes its way to the pie tin. The fat needs to be cut into it before it's rolled out. Both tasks are pretty arduous for what's supposed to be a delicate crust. Once you've done all of this, the butter in the crust has likely softened, which will prevent that light and flaky crust from forming and will result in a dry and tough crust instead. To prevent this, when you make homemade pie crust and finally get it into the pie dish, freeze it for 30 minutes. This will give the butter time to firm up, allowing the crust to become flaky while still holding its shape.

Quiche is a pie, after all. And while the delicious silky, smooth filling might be the star of the show, it will become overshadowed if your pie crust is soggy. And because quiche filling is mainly liquid (eggs and milk), it will quickly turn your pie shell soggy beyond the point of repair. Plus, blind baking ensures that your pie crust and your filling will both be cooked through at the same time.

To prevent sogginess from happening, you need to blind bake your pie shell. Line a pie pan with your crust and then cover it with parchment paper. Into the parchment paper add pie weights or dried beans or rice. You really just need something that will weigh both the parchment and the crust down so it can bake properly and not come out filled with air bubbles. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and when hot, place your pie shell in for about 10 minutes. When it's done par-baking, take it out, wait for it to cool, and then remove the pie weights and parchment.

The custard of a quiche can really trip people up. Milk is a big component in it, but too much milk and your quiche will be watery. This is where the eggs come in. Eggs work their way through the milk and help it to bind together and set. But too many eggs and you'll end up with a rubbery quiche. Due to this delicate balance, it's good to have your quiche ratio on hand. And the French came up with it so you know it's good.

The proper ratio for quiche custard is one part egg to two parts milk; or two eggs per cup of milk. Whisk these together thoroughly and then you can add all the breakfast toppings you want before pouring it into the pie shell.

Quiche is very wet before it's cooked. But that wetness that comes from the milk and the eggs will cook into a silky soft custard that's absolute heaven when you bite into it. Water will quickly wreak havoc on that silky filling and can either turn even a par-baked pie crust filling soggy. Or it will make the filling very watery, so instead of standing nice and tall, it oozes into a puddle all over the plate.

To keep this from happening, ingredients should be as dry as possible when they're being added to a quiche. Blot the grease off that bacon and make sure your sausages are patted down, too. Sauteed spinach should also be patted dry slightly as well as any other ingredients you're using.

Just about anything can be placed into a quiche; it's one of the things that's so great about them. But if it's a breakfast quiche you're making, you'll probably want to use breakfast ingredients. Don't worry about the eggs; there are already a lot of them in there. But bacon bits, crumbled or chopped breakfast sausage, diced ham, and even mushrooms, bell peppers, caramelized onions, spinach, and asparagus all work very well in quiche.

Cheese is usually one of the central components of any quiche. If you're moving away from breakfast and are serving a quiche for brunch that you want to be a little richer, add 2 cups of cheese. If it really is just a breakfast quiche for the family and you don't want anything that rich to start your day, use just one cup and no one will feel too heavy to get on with the rest of their day.

Baking a quiche is a delicate game indeed. You definitely want to make sure the quiche is set throughout, but you also don't want to cook it for so long that the interior is rubbery. That's right, this doesn't just happen when you use too many eggs, but also when cook them for too long. So how do you know what's been enough time for your quiche? Most quiches cook for 35 - 40 minutes, but there's a visual way to tell too. Watch your quiche, particularly at the end of cooking time, and remove it from the oven when the edges have set but it is still a bit jiggly in the center. It will continue cooking and setting when you take it out of the heat, and that will be enough to stop that center from jiggling.

It's not just meat that needs to rest after it's taken off the heat; quiche does too. At the very minimum quiche needs to rest for at least 20 minutes, but ideally overnight, before it can be sliced into and served. And what are the chances you want to wake up and start rolling out pie dough and preparing a custard anyway? If it's breakfast quiche you're after, make it the night before and warm it up in a 300 degree oven for about 20 minutes.