The Best Spot In The Oven For Evenly-Baked Quiche
If you've ever tucked into a slice of rich, eggy quiche, then you know how delicious this breakfast and brunch standby can be. Essentially a savory pie, quiche's filling is a simple egg custard that's poured into a pastry crust, often layered with additional flavorings such as crumbled cheese, sliced veggies, or chunks of meat or fish, and baked until just set on the inside, with a crispy, flaky crust.
Much like dessert pies, quiche seems to have as many variations as there are palates. Quiche Lorraine, said to be the original quiche and to hail from medieval Germany (via Importico's Bakery Cafe) features chunks of smoked bacon, while other takes include creamy goat cheese or flaked salmon. But whatever flavor of quiche you prefer to bake, there's one detail you'll want to pay attention to the next time you throw one together at home, and that's which oven rack you place your egg pie on.
Go for the bottom rack when you bake quiche
Whether you're baking cookies, cake, or bread, it's important to think about where in the oven you'll place your treat. According to Real Simple, the top rack is closest to the broilers of most ovens, and is an ideal spot for items that need that blast of intense heat, such as garlic bread; The bottom rack is just above an oven's heating element, making it a perfect choice for browning bottom-crust items such as pies and flatbreads; And the versatile middle rack — which is adequately spaced from both sources of heat — is the spot for the widest range of items, from cookies to quick breads to sheet pan dinners.
As you may have already deduced, that makes the bottom rack the best place for quiche, according to The Kitchn. An ideal quiche is characterized by a moist filling held in place by a crisp crust, but that crispness can be hard to achieve with the wetness of the egg custard. On the bottom rack of the oven, quiche crust will be just a few inches above the oven's heating element, helping the crust to brown and crisp in spite of the moisture in the pie. And if you're wondering what temperature to bake your quiche at, Real Simple recommends dropping the oven temp down to a moderate 325 degrees Fahrenheit in order to keep the filling moist and just set by the time you pull the quiche about an hour later.