Making the perfect quiche crust is easy with just 3 ingredients—flour, butter and water! This buttery, flaky shortcrust pastry is perfect for all your savoury baking, from classic Quiche Lorraine to spinach-packed Quiche Florentine.
This pastry dough is the base of so many delicious savoury pies, tarts, and quiches, and the best part? It only takes 10 minutes to prepare! Unlike some other versions that call for eggs or vinegar, this one sticks to the basics: flour, butter, and cold water. And with both a Thermomix and a conventional method, it's as easy as can be.
Want to take your homemade pastry game up a notch? Just like my Cheese and Bacon Muffins or Homemade Sausage Rolls, this is one of those recipes you'll find yourself making on repeat.
Why You're Going To Love This Recipe
- Only 3 ingredients! So simple, you probably have everything you need already.
- Thermomix & conventional methods for ultimate flexibility.
- Freezer friendly – make a batch and keep some on hand for busy days.
- No preservatives or additives – just real, wholesome ingredients.
- Versatile – perfect for quiches, tarts, and savoury pies.
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Shortcrust Pastry Ingredients
This recipe is made with just three pantry staples. Here's what you need to know:
- Cold butter – Make sure it's very cold. This helps keep the pastry flaky and prevents it from going greasy.
- Icy water – Use water straight from the fridge or with ice cubes added. Cold ingredients are key for the best texture.
Variations
- Gluten-Free Quiche Crust: Swap the plain flour for a good-quality gluten-free flour blend.
- Cheesy Pastry: Add ¼ cup of finely grated parmesan or tasty cheese for a flavour boost.
- Herb Crust: Mix in 1 teaspoon of dried herbs (thyme, rosemary, or oregano work well) with the flour.
- Wholemeal Version: Use half wholemeal flour and half plain flour for a nuttier, more wholesome flavour.
How To Make A Quiche Crust
Making homemade pastry is easier than you think! Just follow these simple steps.
- Step 1: Add the flour and cold butter to a food processor. Blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Step 2: Slowly add iced water, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together.
- Step 3: Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a smooth ball.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Step 4: Roll out the dough to 3mm thick on a floured surface.
- Step 5: Press into a tart or quiche tin, prick the base with a fork.
- Step 6: Blind bake: Place baking paper over the pastry and fill with baking beads, rice, or lentils.
Bake at 180°C fan-forced for 20 minutes. Remove weights and paper, reduce to 160°C and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden.
Top Tip
Always chill your dough before rolling – this helps the butter firm up, stops shrinkage in the oven, and gives you the flakiest result!
Recipe Tips
- Keep everything cold: Cold butter and water = flaky pastry.
- Don’t overwork the dough: Stop mixing once it just comes together.
- Chill before rolling: Gives the dough structure and makes it easier to handle.
- Prick the base: This prevents the crust from puffing up while baking.
- Blind baking: Essential for crisp, non-soggy bases. Don’t skip it!
- Storage: Wrap leftover dough tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days.
- Freezer-friendly: Wrap dough or baked crust in cling wrap and foil and freeze for up to 2 months.
- Make ahead: Blind bake the base a day ahead and store in an airtight container.
Quiche Crust FAQs
Do I need to blind-bake the quiche crust before filling it?
Yes! This step ensures the base stays crisp and doesn’t go soggy once you add the filling.
Can I freeze the dough?
Absolutely. Wrap the dough well and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight before using.
Why is my pastry shrinking?
Most likely it wasn’t chilled long enough. Always rest the dough in the fridge before rolling.
What size tin does this crust fit?
This amount fits a standard 23cm round tart or quiche tin.
More Quiche Recipes
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3 Ingredient Quiche Crust
Make your own homemade flaky and buttery quiche crust with my 3 ingredient shortcrust pastry recipe. Made from just water, flour and butter, this recipe is perfect for pies, tarts and quiches.
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Servings: 1 serves
Calories: 2125kcal
Ingredients
- 265 g (2 cups) plain flour or Baker's flour
- 150 g butter cold and chopped
- 2-3 tbs icy cold water see notes
Instructions
Conventional Method
- Place the flour and butter into a food processor and process it until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Slowly adding the iced water until a smooth dough forms.
- Knead the dough into a ball on a lightly floured surface.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and place it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- When you're ready to use your dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin until it is 3mm thick.
- To blind bake the pastry, press the dough into a quiche, tart or pie tin and use a fork to gently prick across the base.
- Press a piece of baking paper (greaseproof paper) onto the top of the pastry and then fill the base and sides with baking beads (can be purchased from supermarkets or kitchenware stores). If you don’t have baking beads, you can use uncooked rice or lentils instead.
- Bake the pastry for 20 minutes in a 180 degrees celsius (fan-forced) oven.
- Remove the weights and baking paper, turn the temperature down to 160 degrees celsius (fan-forced) and bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden.
- The pastry is now ready to be filled with your choice of tart, pie or quiche mixture and baked as per the recipe.
Thermomix Method
- Place the flour and butter into the Thermomix bowl and mix on Speed 6 for 10 seconds (or until it resembles fine breadcrumbs).
- Add the iced water and knead for 1 minute on interval speed.
- Knead the dough into a ball on a lightly floured surface.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and place it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- When you're ready to use your dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin until it is 3mm thick.
- To blind bake the pastry, press the dough into a quiche, tart or pie tin and use a fork to gently prick across the base.
- Press a piece of baking paper (greaseproof paper) onto the top of the pastry and then fill the base and sides with baking beads (can be purchased from supermarkets or kitchenware stores). If you don’t have baking beads, you can use uncooked rice or lentils instead.
- Bake the pastry for 20 minutes in a 180 degrees celsius (fan-forced) oven.
- Remove the weights and baking paper, turn the temperature down to 160 degrees celsius (fan-forced) and bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden.
- The pastry is now ready to be filled with your choice of tart, pie or quiche mixture and baked as per the recipe.
Notes
RECIPE NOTES & TIPS
Equipment - You can use either a food processor or Thermomix to make the pastry.
Butter - Use full fat butter that is very cold. Cold butter will stop the pastry from becoming greasy.
Temperature - Try to keep all of your ingredients cold during the entire preparation process. Keep the butter chilled until you’re ready to use it. Add ice to water to chill it even further.
Chilling - Chill the dough before using it – this allows the butter to set which results in perfectly flaky and melt-in-your-mouth pastry.
Rolling out the dough- Remove the dough from the fridge and leave it for 5-10 minutes before rolling it out(this will stop the edges cracking). Add a little flour to your rolling pin and flat board when rolling out the dough (to stop it from sticking).
Blind baking - the process of par-cooking pastry before adding filling and continuing to cook. Blind baking keeps the pastry in shape when filling is added, stops the pastry from going soggy and results in the BEST flaky pastry.
Nutrition
Calories: 2125kcal | Carbohydrates: 227g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 124g | Saturated Fat: 77g | Cholesterol: 323mg | Sodium: 1076mg | Potassium: 304mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 3750IU | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 11.6mg
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GG says
Is it possible to par bake the crust the day before I’m to use it?
Lucy says
Absolutely!
Ambika Sood says
Hi, on which rack should we place the crust while blind baking ? My crust tends to not cook all the way through at times
Lucy says
Hi there, it depends on where the heat source is in your oven. For me, it comes from the top so I would place it on the top rack.
Ingrid bugeja says
Can you use gluten free flour for this recipe?
Lucy says
I haven't personally tried that in this recipe sorry!
esther says
I did this recipe today, when doing the pastry I added 7 tablespoons of water because it was very crumbly, I did finish the dough by hand because my machine did break it into 3 or 4 pieces and it was not able to put them together, but it was very easy by hand, the dough got out of my finger super easy. after baked it was really nice to taste, really happy with the results, now on that is my pastry for quiche.