Gluten free Spinach Feta Quiche is the perfect brunch dish for pastry lovers. There are a few tips to learn for perfect gluten free pastry, and the first one is that different pastry recipes can have different tips! For quiche, a pre bake step followed by a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese on the bottom prevents the dough from becoming soggy.
If brunch is your meal, check out this post, 25 Gluten Free Brunch Ideas. For a very special occasion I serve this Prosecco Berry Sangria.
Once you master the technique for making gluten free pastry, come back and check out all my pastry recipes for more inspiration. If you're looking for more help check out this post, Tips for Making Gluten Free Pastry.
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Ingredients
A double crust recipe makes enough pastry for two pies without a top crust; like quiche, Tourtiere or pumpkin pie. For an old fashioned apple pie with a top crust this recipe will make one pie. I always make the double crust recipe and when I'm only making one quiche I use up the dough to make mini tarts to use up any extra filling, hand pies or even little pastry straws.
PASTRY
- sour cream
- rice vinegar
- EGFG gluten free flour blend (sweet rice flour, potato starch, sorghum flour, millet flour)
- sugar
- xanthan gum
- butter
FILLING
- eggs
- coffee cream or whipping cream (10% fat or higher)
- Parmesan cheese
- feta cheese
- frozen spinach
See recipe card for exact amounts.
Instructions to Prevent Soggy Pastry
There is no end to learning about gluten free baking. These are the three most important steps for a successful quiche.
- Prebaking the crust and sprinkling a layer of Parmesan cheese on the bottom prevents the dough from becoming soggy.
- Placing the piecrust on a baking sheet adds insulation so the bottom of the quiche cooks completely without over browning.
- Using the least amount of sprinkling flour will ensure your pastry is soft and pliable.
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Substitutions
Gluten free flour is the first, and most difficult, ingredient to substitute. I use my EGFG gluten free flour blend for this pastry and it works for most of my baking, about 80%. There are so many blends available that it's impossible to recommend a substitution. You need to bake with a blend and compare the results for yourself.
If you're not happy with the flour blend you're using and, for any reason can't use my blend, here are a few ways I can help you.
- Click here for more resources to help you learn how to use gluten free flour.
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- Sign up for our most popular cooking class, Understanding How To Use Gluten Free Flour.
- Check out 11 Gluten Free Flour Recipes to see some popular flour blends bloggers are using.
Variations
With this pastry recipe you can make any kind of quiche you've ever heard of as a full pie or quiche tarts. Follow the tips for the best pastry and try any of these popular combinations.
- Spinach and Mushroom
- Broccoli and Cheddar
- Quiche Lorraine (bacon, cheese and onion)
- Ham and Asparagus
- Asparagus and Feta
Tools for Gluten Free Baking
An old-fashioned standard pie plate often means a shallow 9-inch pie plate with fluted edges. If you're using a larger dish, or a deeper dish, the amount of pastry needed will change as will the baking times.
If you have decided that you're going to become the pastry maker in your family, you might want to buy a few of these tools.
- Anything from a standard pyrex 9-inch pie plate with a fluted edge to a colourful ceramic deep dish pie plate is perfect for quiche.
- Every kitchen needs a rolling pin whether it’s a classic wooden rolling pin, a heavy marble one designed to stay cool for working with pastry or a modern silicone style rolling pin.
- Flexible baking mats or inexpensive light weight cutting boards are perfect for flipping pastry to ensure it doesn’t stick. I bought these when I was new to gluten free so I could quickly grab a clean surface (avoiding cross contact) for any job. Since then I've found lots of uses for them.
Storage
Pastry is always best the day it's made but I'll take warm, leftover quiche anytime. Store it in the fridge overnight and reheat as per the recipe card instructions.
Top Tip
Go easy on the sprinkling flour. Too much sprinkling flour quickly turns a soft, pliable dough into tough pastry. Although I didn't use the plastic wrap technique in my video, this technique decreases the amount of flour needed to roll out pastry. Put the dough ball between two pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper. Then follow the instructions in the recipe and you'll have tender, flaky pastry.
Gluten Free Spinach Feta Quiche (with pastry recipe)
Ingredients
DOUBLE CRUST PASTRY (enough for 2 quiche or a pie with a top crust)
- 6 tablespoon cold water
- 3 tablespoon sour cream
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 380 grams EGFG gluten free flour blend* (2¾ cups + 2 Tbsp)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 cup butter cut into ¼-inch pieces and freeze for 10-15 minutes
FILLING
- 5 eggs
- 2 cups cream any cream 10% fat or higher
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 10 oz frozen chopped spinach , thawed and squeezed dry
Instructions
MAKE PASTRY
- In 1-cup measuring cup combine water, sour cream and vinegar. Set aside.
- Combine flour, sugar, salt and xanthan gum in food processor with dough blade. Process 10 seconds to combine.
- Add cold butter from the freezer and process until combined into uniform crumb-like mixture.
- Add sour cream mixture, process until a dough begins to form and stick together.
- Using your hands, and sprinkling the dough with sweet rice flour, form it into a ball incorporating all the crumbs until you have a uniform texture.
- Divide dough into 2 pieces and flatten each piece into a round thick disk shape. Wrap each piece in a generous amount of wax paper. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
MAKE FILLING
- Whisk eggs, half-and-half, salt and pepper together in a large liquid measuring cup. Add spinach and stir with a fork. Set aside at room temperature.
ROLL OUT PASTRY
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove one piece of dough from fridge, unwrap and leave in the center of the wax paper. Lightly dust each side of the dough with sweet rice flour.
- Use wax paper or plastic wrap on both sides of the dough to minimize the amount of sprinkling flour needed.* Using a rolling pin start in the center of the dough, rolling out toward the edges. Lift the rolling pin as you get close to the edge so the edges are not thinner than the rest of the pastry.
- Peel the wrap back and lightly dust pastry so it doesn't stick. Flip the dough and dust again, always rolling out from the center. Continue rolling and flipping until you have an 11 or 12-inch circle of dough ⅛-inch thick.
- Remove wrap and invert the dough into the pie plate. Quickly push the edges of the dough into the curved shape of the pie plate before it cracks.
- To make a thick edge crust tuck the excess dough under itself, crimping the edge into the rim as you go. Alternately, use a knife to cut off the excess dough and simply push the dough into the rim of the pan with your thumb and fingers.
- Chill pie crust in freezer for 15 minutes before baking.
BAKING QUICHE
- Bake pie crust in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle bottom of crust with Parmesan cheese and bake another 5 minutes.
- Place piecrust on wire rack and reduce oven temperature to 350°F. The crust must be warm when you add the filling.
- Sprinkle feta cheese on the bottom of the crust. Pour egg mixture into crust until ¼ inch from the top. You may have some egg mixture leftover.
- Place quiche on a rimmed baking sheet and return to oven. Bake 40-45 minutes until top is lightly browned and set. Insert the tip of a knife in the center. If it comes out clean it's done.
- Let quiche cool before cutting. Reheat before serving if needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Yes, many people freeze this pastry dough, thaw it in the fridge overnight and use as directed.
The easiest use of leftover pastry is to make hand pies with any store bought or homemade filling (including meat pies). Follow the directions in my recipe for Cherry Hand Pies. Cutting pastry circles is cute but to use up pastry simply cut squares or rectangles for the least amount of waste.
Did you make this pastry? If you liked it give me a 5 star rating and let me know in the comments below what you learned.
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