Not everything is as easy as they seems. Quiches has been a big hurtle for me master. As I'm writing this The Quiche is still the winner in theses matches. Quiches 2, me 0.

Well it's just the quiche shell there has me beaten. It always breaks in the blind baking, and a quiche shell with holes, won't hold any batter. Doubling amount of dough didn't help, it just made the quiche more heavy.

I had to revisit this great dish - this time making two quiche shells. I needed a backup plan. I made two fillings, one with Wild Mushrooms and one with Gorgonzola, leeks and bacon.

This time I searched online for bloggers who had made Thomas Keller's quiche. They might have some tips and tricks, that can make me win this battle. Smitten Kitchen had metrics in her recipe, and it helped me with the converting.

In Thomas Keller's recipe it call for 2 cups sifted All-purpose Flour (12 ounces) - but in all my searches, I couldn't find 2 cups to equal 12 ounces. The 2 cups could be 9 ounces at most. This conversion worked, I was able to make two perfect shells.

Basic quiche Shell:

250 g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon kosher salt
225 g (2 sicks) very cold butter, cut into a small dices
60 ml water, ice cold
Neutral oil, for brushing springform

Basic quiche custard:

475 ml milk
475 ml heavy whipping cream
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg

Mushrooms filling:

905 g mushrooms (mixed)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 freshly ground black pepper
15 g butter
2 shallots, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
70 g Comte, Emmentaler or Comté cheese, grated

Gorgonzola, Leek and bacon filling:

6 oz (175 g) gorgonzola
4-5 large leeks
¾ pounds (350 g) bacon, I used thick cut bacon

Directions:

Make buttery shell:

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix half of the flour with all of the salt. Then, with the machine on low speed, add the bits of butter, a handful at a time, until the butter is completely incorporated. Mix in the remainder of the flour until just blended, then the cold water until thoroughly incorporated. Form the dough into a flat, round disc. Wrap it with the plastic and chill it for at least one hour, preferably overnight, and up to two days.

Prepare shell:

Set the ring of a 9-inch springform pan, leaving the hinge open, on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the inside of the ring with lightly with oil and set aside.

Generously flour your counter, then place the chilled, unwrapped dough on the flour and flour the top of the dough. Roll you dough into a 14-16-inch (36-40 cm) round, about 3/16-inch (5 mm) thick. The dough is going to be very hard at first, but keep at it, pressing the rolling pin gently from the center, it will get easier as it stretches out, and it is best to start when its very cold as it will remain the coolest/most firm longer. Re-flour your surface as needed, continually lifting and rotating your dough to make sure no parts are sticking. If at any point the dough becomes sticky, soft just slide it onto a floured baking sheet and pop it into the freezer for a few minutes for it to cool down again. If it tears, just overlap the sides of the tear and roll them back together.

You can transfer your dough to the prepared pastry ring in one of two ways. Keller’s method is to roll it up on your rolling pin, then unroll it in the ring. I did like Smitten Kitchen by gently fold it into quarters, without creases, and unfold it in the ring. Gently lift the edges so that the slack of the dough drapes in. Press the dough into the corners and up the sides of the ring. Trim the overhang to 1-inch and please, save your scraps. Freeze the pastry shell for 20 minutes. Save the scraps for patching the shell after the blind-baking.

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Par-bake your pastry shell:

Line your chilled buttery pastry shell with parchment paper. Fill with pie weights/dried beans/uncooked rice/loose change and bake in your preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until lightly golden at edges. Carefully remove weights and parchment paper. Check the crust for any cracks or holes. Patch up any holes and return shell to oven to bake another 10 to 15 minutes longer, until “richly brown” on bottom. Set aside to cool while you make your filling. Leave the oven on.

Prepare filling:

Mushrooms:

In a very large skillet, heat the oil. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat, stirring, until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate. Add the butter, shallots and thyme and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms are tender, about 12 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper and let cool.

Gorgonzola, Leek and bacon:

Cut the bacon in 5/8 inch cubes. Bake or fry the bacon until it has rendered its fat, but not yet crisped up. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain.

Cut off the dark leaves of the leeks and discard. Cut of the root an the bottom 1/2 inch of each leek. Cut the leeks lengthwise in half and wash well under cold running water. Place cut side down on a cutting board and slice crosswise into 1/4 inch-thick slices.

Boil the leeks in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes, or until tender throughout. drain the leeks and spread them on paper towels on a baking sheet to cool.

Crumble the gorgonzola.

Assemble quiche:

Check the pastry shell for holes or cracks that would cause leakage. If you see any, seal them with the trimmed scraps from the dough.

Scald the milk and cream in a large saucepan (meaning a skin begins to form on the surface). Remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes.

Scatter one-third of the cheese and half the mushrooms in the bottom of the pastry shell. Ad half the milk/cream and 3 eggs with 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1/8 teaspoon white pepper and some freshly grated nutmeg to a blender and blend until frothy. Pour into the pastry shell. Top with another third of the cheese and remaining mushrooms. Make the custard again with the remaining eggs/milk/cream and same seasonings and pour it into the shell. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

For the other quiche, scatter half the filling, then batter, then filling and top of with rest of the custard.

To avoid spilling the batter when you put the quiche in the oven, fill the second part of the custard in the quiche when it's already in the oven.

Bake quiche:

For 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours, or until nicely bronzed on top and the custard is just set. At first the custard jiggles quicker in the center than at the edges. When the custard is done, the jiggle is more uniform throughout. Let cool to room temperature on a rack. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 day or up to 3 days.

When chilled, scrape away the excess crust from the top edge. Run a knife between the crus and the ring to release the quiche.

Serve quiche:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a serrated knife and supporting the edges of the crust, carefully cut through the edge of the crust in a saw motion. Cut through the custard and bottom crust. Cut quiche into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet and reheat for about 15b minutes.

Serve with a salad.

Even though I like the gorgonzola in the quiche, it's a bit heavy. Maybe it would work better without the cheese and just add the gorgonzola in the salad. The mushroom quiche was perfect, with a good balanced flavor.