Is it possible to have a good crust without prebaking a quiche?

Question

I'm planning on making a quiche (Lorraine with leek to be exact) and I was looking up recipes for quiches. Most recipes call for blind-baking the crust in advance (or at least partly), but some skip this step and pour the filling in the raw dough and bake it like that.

I think blind-baking would prevent the dough from getting soggy since the filling is quite liquid. The other recipes look nice (judging on the picture), but won't the dough be soggy? Or should you put the temperature lower and the time higher so the liquid can evaporate?

Does it matter whether you blind-bake your crust for a quiche? Or does it mainly depend on the type of dough (puff, shortcrust...)? Or on the amount of liquid or type of veggie/meat (precooked)? Any other factors that I don't think of?

Asked by Mien

Answer

In the normal cooking time of a quiche (20 to 30 minutes), the crust doesn't really get soggy from the filling, even if it is quite liquid, as is expected for quiche Lorraine. So, you can without problem cook your quiche without first blind-baking the crust. The difference will be in the crispness of the crust: if you try to get it crispy, you should prebake, if you don't mind it being rather, well, “plain”, you don't.

The only real reason for me to blind-bake a crust is when you put something on it that won't be cooked (tartelettes), that will only get grilled or that will be baked less that it would require to bake the crust (meringue tart). Most of these examples are fruit tarts, however.

Answered by F'x

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What is blind baking?

Question

I am making a quiche. The recipe tells me to "blind bake" the crust at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. What is "blind baking"? Is it anything more complicated than baking something partially?

To avoid making this a general reference question: why is it necessary to blind bake things? And, why is it called "blind" baking?

Answer

Blind baking is indeed just baking without a filling - it can be fully or partially. Typically you do this because your filling will either need to bake for a shorter time than your crust (a quiche for example) or not at all (a pie filled with some kind of pre cooked/set custard). It can also be done to help 'set' a crust against a filling that will make it rather soggy.

Often times you will want something neutral in the shell to keep it from becoming a big bubbly, puffed up crust. This may be in the form of formal 'pie weights' or just a piece of parchment paper and some dry beans will suffice.

I have no idea why its called blind baking, but the english.se site is notoriously good at word origins.

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