Tag: Crust

Since the Real Men DO Eat Quiche cookbook was completed, I’ve come up with a new way to make this crust which tastes just as good, maybe a little better, and most important it holds up better when cutting.  Most of the credit for this goes to Rachel Ray.  I don’t know her or anything like that, but she did a quiche once that had a potato crust that used corn starch to help bond the potatoes together.  That got me to experimenting with different amounts of corn starch in my usual Simply Potatoes, Southwestern Hash Browns base.  Turns out that you don’t need much corn starch to make this work well.  And you can even substitute coconut oil or olive oil for butter to try and keep this kind of healthy.  The bigger bonus, it doesn’t take as much time to cook as the original recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 nine inch pie pans
• 2 tablespoons of either butter, olive oil or coconut oil
• 1 package Simply Potatoes Southwestern Hash Browns (or 4 cups of shredded potatoes with your favorite seasonings)
• 2 tablespoons corn starch

Preparation

In a large mixing bowl, mix the potatoes and corn starch thoroughly.  In each of the pie pan apply a coating of either the butter, olive oil or coconut oil.  Take half of the potato mixture from the bowl and place it in the bottom of the first pan.  Spread out the mixture from the center to the edges so that there is an even coating of the potato mixture that is about 1/4 inch thick.  Try to go all the way up on the top lip of the pan if possible.  Repeat this for the other pan.  Put both of them in the refrigerator and turn on your oven to preheat at 400 degrees.  When the preheat is done (about 10 minutes) remove the pans from the refrigerator and put them in the oven for about 10 – 15 minutes or until the potatoes start to brown.  Remove and allow to cool before putting a quiche mixture in them.

Cooking up a quiche with corned beef, pastrami or a lot of sharp cheese?  This Rye Pizza Style Crust is a good foundation for it.

Makes 2 pie crusts

Ingredients

• 2 – 9 in deep dish pie pans
• 1 pkg. active dry yeast
• 1 tsp. honey
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cup med. rye flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. dark molasses
• 2 tbsp. vegetable or olive oil

Preparation

Dissolve yeast and honey in 1/4 cup warm water and set aside until yeast foams.

Place both flours in a large bowl. Add yeast mixture, salt, molasses, oil and 1/2 cup water and stir to combine. Turn dough out into a floured board and knead until dough is smooth, about 5 minutes.

Place dough in an oiled bowl, turning so that top of dough is lightly covered with oil. Cover with towel and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Cooking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove dough from bowl and half.  Each half should be a in between baseball and softball in size.  Roll that out with a rolling pin on a floured surface until it’s about 1/4″ thick, round and a little bigger than the pie pans.  Coat the pie pans with a little brush of the oil and drop in the rolled dough.  Make ridges around the edge of the pan and remove any excess.  Using a fork poke some holes through the dough in the bottom of the pans to allow for any trapped air to escape during cooking.

Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until  the dough starts to turn a light brown.  Remove and allow to cool before putting your quiche filling into the pan.

When your trying to make a crust for your quiche that really needs a pumpernickel rye bread flavor this pizza style crust is your ticket.  The bonus is that this can also be used for a pizza crust if your not making a quiche.   Why would you need a pumpernickel rye crust?  For quiches that use bratwurst, corned beef, pastrami or really anything that you’d like to have a dark spicy bread wrapper.

Makes 2 crusts

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup rye flour (dark or light)
• 4 teaspoons cocoa
• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Directions:

FOOD PROCESSOR METHOD:

• Put first 7 ingredients into food processor fitted with dough blade.
• Stir molasses into warm water in small bowl.
• With machine running, pour molasses-water mixture and cooking oil through tube in lid.
• Process for 50 to 60 seconds. If dough seems sticky to remove, add about 1/2 teaspoons flour to make it easier to handle.

HAND METHOD:

• Put first 7 ingredients into medium bowl. Stir together well.
• Add warm water, molasses and cooking oil.
• Mix well until dough leaves sides of bowl.
• Knead on lightly floured surface for 5 to 8 minutes until smooth and elastic

Final Preparation:

• Place dough in large greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with tea towel.
• Let stand in oven with light on and door closed for about 1 hour until doubled in size.
• Punch dough down. Roll out and press in greased 10 inch pan, forming rim around edge.
• Cook in the oven @ 375 for about 15 minutes or until the top firms up like a solid crust.

Who doesn’t like NUTS!?!  But sometimes people don’t like them with eggs, or anything involving eggs.  Well, I decided to hide the nuts in some of my weirder recipes.  And since they are better hidden out of sight, include them in your crust.
Makes 2 pies.

 Ingredients

• 2 Cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Cup of your favorite nuts, toasted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup (2 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 8-10 Tablespoon cold water

Preparation

First thing is to toast your nuts. Put the shelled nuts in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes on a cookie sheet. Remove and cool for about 5 minutes and either manually fine chop them or run them through a grinder or food processor. I used a food processor and ran it for about 2 minutes. Then in a food processor mix together the flour, nuts, salt and sugar. Then chop in the butter by pulsing the processor about 10 to 15 times. Then add the water, one tablespoon at a time with a pulse between each tablespoon. When you get near the end, pay attention to the consistency. It should just be starting to be sticky when you stop adding water. Remove from the processor and form into a large ball. Then halve the ball and form into two individual balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about an hour. Remove and individually place on a lightly floured surface to roll out to about a 10 inch diameter sheet. Place in a 9 1/2 inch pie pan. Put some parchment paper on top while preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Put some kind of pie weights on top of the parchment and place the pans in the oven for about 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights and place back in the ovens for another 5 tot 10 minutes or until lightly browned. That should be ready, so refrigerate till your ready to fill.