Cheesey Bacon & Thyme Quiche

We absolutely love a good quiche. It's perfect any time of the year. Great served cold in the warmer months for picnics or bbqs, and in our opinion served warm straight from the oven in the cooler months.

The pastry is buttery, and the filling is creamy and cheesey - a perfect comfort food combination 😋

You can add many different fillings to a quiche, however we went with a classic filling, bacon. And we have to say it's one of our favourite fillings. Classically known as a, 'quiche Lorraine'. It's a true classic that we thoroughly enjoy.

We like to add a little additional ingredient, and that's fresh thyme. Fresh thyme gives it a real depth of flavour and pairs amazingly with the salty bacon, and buttery pastry.

The flavours of this quiche are truly delicious and we strongly recommend you using FRESH THYME if possible, it really is worth it.

We used homemade pastry, but of course you can swap this out for store bought shortcrust pastry if you wish.

We really do enjoy this recipe. It's perfect for any meal time, and is fantastic to make ahead and take to party's, picnics or bbqs. It's also delicious served cold, making it a fantastic meal-prep recipe. Just store in an airtight container in the fridge, or wrap in clingfilm and freeze.

So without further ado let's crack on with the recipe.

Happy Baking!

The Chai Home 😋

INGREDIENTS

For the pastry

Makes enough for a 25cm quiche dish

• 1 1/2 cups of plain flour

• pinch of salt

• 120g of cold butter

• 1x egg yolk

• cold water

For the filling

• 5x eggs

• 300g of extra thick cream

• 2x cups of Cheddar Cheese - grated

• 250g of Bacon - keep 3 rashers whole, and dice the remaining into small bite size pieces

• 1x tbsp of fresh Thyme Leaves - plus 2-3 whole sprigs

• 2x large pinches of Black Pepper

METHOD

For the pastry

Add all of the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and rub the ingredients together between your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Using your hands work the dough into a ball. If it's too crumbly add a tsp of cold water. Add more if needed. Cover with cling-film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

At around the 20 minute mark we like to go ahead and preheat the oven to 350C (we will turn it down before baking) and lightly grease our quiche dish.

You can opt for the traditional method and lightly dust your worktop with some flour and roll-out your pastry with a rolling pin, however we prefer to use, 'the play dough method'. Place your pastry ball into the centre of your quiche dish, and using your fingers press the dough evenly out across the base and up the edges. You can break pieces off also to help speed the process up.

Using a fork go ahead and prick your prepared pastry - ensure both base and sides are well covered in prick marks.

When your oven is well preheated reduce the heat to 180C, and blind bake it on the top shelf for 15-minutes.

While that's baking go ahead and prepare your quiche filling.

Add a little olive oil to a frying pan and cook your bacon, along with the pepper and fresh thyme (excluding the whole sprigs), on a low heat until slightly golden. Roughly 3-4 minute's. You do not want to over cook the bacon. You do not want your bacon to be crispy, because it will continue to cook in the oven. Once cooked remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large Pyrex measuring jug add the eggs and cream and whisk together with a fork until fully combined. Now add in your grated cheese and evenly mix it through.

When your pastry has finished blind baking remove it from the oven and then begin assembling your quiche.

Add the cooked diced pieces of bacon to the base, and evenly distribute.

Now pour over the egg mixture. You may need to use a spoon to evenly spread the mixture out.

Finally top with your whole bacon rashers and a few sprigs of fresh thyme.

Carefully pop it back in the oven at bake for 40 minutes.

It should be golden on top and nice and jiggly.

Remove from the oven and enjoy hot or cold.