I was trying to make a quick quiche the other night for dinner, and didn’t have a base/shell ready to use. I had some slightly old bread, so I thought I’d give that a go. Turns out it works great!
I just cut the crusts off, buttered one side, and arranged it in the dish butter-side-down. The butter helps hold it in place and stops it from sticking to the dish, and also gives a nice golden crust.
For the filling, I softened a sliced up onion in a frying pan, then added chopped ham (frozen from Christmas leftovers!) and fried it until it had a nice colour. I grated some cheese into the quiche base, and tipped the ham and onion on top.
In a mixing bowl, I whisked up 3 eggs, 1.5 cups of milk, and 1/2 cup of self-raising flour. I poured that over the top, and baked at 200 C (390 F) for about 45 minutes (from memory – I just take it out when it looks done!).
This is a great basic quiche recipe. You can mix and match the other ingredients – asparagus is very nice, as are spicy sausages like chorizo. Leftover chicken or BBQed sausages are good too.
So there you go, bread as a quiche base works well, tastes great, and is very quick and easy!
What’s your favourite quiche filling? What do you use as a base? Share your tips in the comments below!
Comments
8 responses to “Bread As A Quiche Base”
Yes I have been doing this often. You can also used thinly sliced potato. It is better if the potato is already cooked. I don’t line the sides of the cooking utensil. I just cover the bottom. You can then see the lovely colourful layers when the quiche is cut into pieces. You can also use sour cream or yogurt instead of the flour as a thickener. Whichever way it looks and tastes yum!
@Julie: Potato is a great idea! I’ll have to try sour cream too, that sounds yum. Thanks for the tips!
I have also made individual mini quiches with a single piece of bread rolled flat with a rolling pin, buttered, then shaped to a large muffin pan. The kids love them for school.
My mum used to do this in individual muffin tins. yummo.
@Meryl and Deb: Great idea! It solves the problem of arguments over what’s going into the quiche, too :-).
Rather than using precious bread slices, never through out the bread ends . Freeze them whenever a loaf is finished. When making quiches or savoury slices, dice the ends into small cubes and lay as the base. Fits into muffin tins easier than tucking in whole slices and bulks up the quiche.
@Rachel: Great idea! I love it – both practical and frugal.
Favourite quiche fillings. Large red onion sauteed in butter & evoo very slowly until soft, the add 2t red wine vinegar & 2t brown sugar, cook gently. Onion jam! goes great with vintage cheese. But I always put about 6 finely shredded leaves of silverbeet in the bottom of any quiche. Good source of garden veg & the taste is surprisingly subtle. Left over braised leeks are also gorgeous.
But in the same dish you have there I make bread & butter pudding. My daughter works in a bakery & I can’t bear waste! The chooks can’t eat it all. So butter 4 slices of bread, lay face down in your dish. Mix together 3 eggs, 2&1/2-3cups milk, 2Tbspn sugar. Pour a little over bread.Sprinkle over 1/2 cup sultanas. Top sultanas with another 4 buttered slices bread. Gently pour over all egg mix. Press bread down to ensure it is all soaked. Top with sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg. Put dish in a baking pan, half fill baking pan with boiling water. Cook at 160 for approx 1 hour, especially while you have the oven on for casserole or curry. Grandma’s (& my husband’s) favourite pud!