How Using Whole Milk Will Impact The Texture Of Your Quiche
When you slide your fork into a slice of quiche, you want it to give away like a hot knife to butter because it's so fluffy and moist. Made of eggs, milk, and other ingredients like ham and cheese, quiche should not be dense or dry. Some of the most common mistakes when crafting a quiche are for it to have a soggy crust, a watery filling, or, conversely, a dry and tough-to-chew custard, per The Wild Olive.
To achieve that delicious and perfectly-cooked quiche, the pan in which it's made is another important decision to make. The Wild Olive recommends using a heavy glass or ceramic pan that will distribute the heat evenly. How you cook it is also a key aspect to achieving that light and springy quiche. Real Simple advises cooking a quiche around 325 degrees F, which is lower than what many recipes call for which is setting the oven to be between 350 to 400 degrees F. By cooking it at a lower temperature and for a longer period of time, the filling will bake more consistently.
While the oven temperature and pan play important parts in making the quiche you crave, it's truly what is in the filling that sets up the dish to be a success or a disappointment. And look no further than one of the key components — milk.
Don't skip the fat
The French are known for using cream, whole milk, and butter when cooking, and making a traditional French quiche is definitely not the right time to deviate and opt for margarine or skim milk. By choosing whole milk over one with a lower fat content, the baked quiche will have a light texture, per The Kitchn. Milk plays an important role in helping quiche be the right consistency. In a separate article from The Kitchn, highlighting the fat content of the chosen dairy will determine how thick and firm the quiche will bake to be.
The higher the fat content of the dairy, the lighter it will be, advises The Recipe Critic. A combination of whole milk, cream, and half-and-half can also be used. In fact, Martha Stewart's recipe for a classic quiche filling lists equal parts whole milk and heavy cream (1 ½ cups of each). To determine the ratio of milk or cream to eggs that should be used in a quiche recipe, remember that it's one egg to one-half cup of cream or milk. Once you have cracked the eggs and poured the milk into the bowl, it's time to add that other much-craved dairy item –- Cheese!