Some weight is usually added while baking the pastry to ensure that the pastry doesn't collapse on itself while cooking. Usually, people use pie weights during blind baking, but we tell you, you don't really need to invest in pie weights.
You can find special pie weights for this job, but you can also just use dry beans (about 1 1/2 pounds) or even the pennies from that jar you've been saving. Once the crust is set — and you'll know this because the edges will turn golden — you remove the weights and let the crust cook a little longer on its own.
The 3 Best Pie Weights
- The Best Ceramic Ball Pie Weights. R&M International Ceramic Pie Weights. $13.59. | Amazon. See On Amazon.
- The Best Ball & Chain Pie Weight. Jaz Innovations Stainless Steel Weight Chain. $18.95. $16.99. | Amazon.
- The Best Disc Pie Weight. Chicago Metallic Pie Weight. $21. | Amazon. See On Amazon.
Place the pan upside down on a baking sheet, so that the empty pan is on the bottom. Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated 375°F oven. Gravity ensures that as your crust slips "down" the side of the pan, it's actually moving up! Remove the crust from the oven.
Brush the Bottom
Adding a layer of corn syrup or a slightly beaten egg white before pouring in the filling will form a seal between the pie dough and the filling and will help make the crust crisp and flaky.The 3 Best Pie Weights
- The Best Ceramic Ball Pie Weights. R&M International Ceramic Pie Weights. $13.59. | Amazon. See On Amazon.
- The Best Ball & Chain Pie Weight. Jaz Innovations Stainless Steel Weight Chain. $18.95. $16.99. | Amazon.
- The Best Disc Pie Weight. Chicago Metallic Pie Weight. $21. | Amazon. See On Amazon.
Glass Marbles or Polished River Rocks
So line your pastry with some butter paper, tie the marbles/river rocks in a muslin cloth and use them as pie weights. These will ensure that the pie gets heated evenly.The weights are placed on the dough to stop the crust from over expanding or becoming overly puffy. The weights also prevent pastry blisters. Each bag weighs . 75 pounds.
Instead of using baking beans, why not use metal coins instead of ceramic baking beans? You can use loose change or better still, old coins that are out of circulation. Make sure to wash them in soapy water first and dry them well.
When you blind bake with them, you'll need to put a piece of parchment paper over the crust in a pan so that the dough is covered and then pour a handful of these items into the center of the pan on top of the parchment piece.
With an unbaked filling, like with a French silk pie, blind baking just makes sure the crust is fully baked before you add the filling. But don't worry — you shouldn't have to guess very often. Your recipe will almost always tell you when blind baking is necessary.
Line the tart tin with baking parchment and fill with ceramic baking beans or dried pulses. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is firm, then remove the beans and cook for about 5 minutes more, until golden brown and biscuity. Trim off any excess using a small serrated knife before filling.
To avoid shrinking crusts, use a metal or unglazed ceramic pie plate (available from The Pampered Chef) and blind bake the dough at 350°F. If you only have glass pie plates, you can still blind bake the crust. Just be sure to trim the dough a tad beyond the rim of the pie pan, perhaps 1/8 inch.
Pie weights are small ceramic or metal balls that you use when “blind” baking a pie crust. Pie weights prevent the crust from forming air pockets that bubble up or shrinking as it cooks. They weight down the dough so that it holds its shape and stays firmly nestled against the pie plate.
The idea is to roll out the pastry and line your flan dish, then using a sheet of grease proof or foil, line the surface and then place some weight on the covered surface, such as dried pasta, rice, clay balls.
Why is it called "blind baking"? Blind baking is indeed just baking without a filling — it can be fully or partially. Typically you do this because your filling will either need to bake for a shorter time than your crust (a quiche for example) or not at all (a pie filled with some kind of pre cooked/set custard).
Use Pantry Staples as Pie Weights
Line the inside of your crust with foil or parchment paper and fill it with dried beans, rice, or popcorn kernels. Then, bake your crust according to the instructions in the recipe. Your homemade pie weights will probably be too dry to cook and eat afterward, but don't toss them.If you need to use parchment to blind-bake a pie crust or to steam food in the oven, aluminum foil will work in a pinch. However, you need to make your foil packet double-thick for steaming unless you're using heavy-duty foil. Regular foil will tear too easily and release the steam you need for cooking.
Add pie weights, dry rice, dried beans or (as I've done here) dry wheat berries, enough to fill the pan 2/3 full. Chill the crust for 30 minutes; this will solidify the fat, which helps prevent shrinkage. 3. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes.
"Baking beans" can be rice, beans, lentils or you can buy special ceramic pie weights. Unfortunately if you use rice, beans or lentils then they are not really suitable for use in other dishes afterwards as they become dried out in the oven and will remain hard and tough if cooked again, even if cooked for a long time.
You can use dried beans to blind bake. You can use glass marbles as pie weights just let them cool before removing from the pan to avoid temperature shock which could cause them to break.
There are two times when blind baking is necessary: when we're making a custard pie or when the pie filling is unbaked. With a custard pie, like a pumpkin pie, the moisture in the filling can make the crust soggy before it has time to actually bake.
Directions
- To make the dough for the pie crust, mix 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon each salt and sugar in a medium-size bowl.
- Add 4 tablespoons ice water; work with hands until dough comes together.
- Divide dough in half, and flatten halves into disks.
Use Pantry Staples as Pie Weights
Line the inside of your crust with foil or parchment paper and fill it with dried beans, rice, or popcorn kernels. Then, bake your crust according to the instructions in the recipe. Your homemade pie weights will probably be too dry to cook and eat afterward, but don't toss them.Dried beans are a great alternative to pie weights when blind-baking a pie crust. The pie-weight beans were a bit firmer than the never-cooked beans and might have benefited from 10 more minutes of cooking, but they were creamy, intact, and entirely acceptable.
Shortcrust pastry (pie crust) shrinks when baked as the glutens in the flour tend to contract in the heat of the oven. These glutens are protiens in the flour which form into strands when the flour is mixed with liquid.
1. Blind Bake. The most common way to ward off a soggy pie crust is by a process called blind baking. Blind baking means you pre-bake the crust (sometimes covered with parchment or foil and weighed down with pie weights to prevent the crust from bubbling up) so that it sets and crisps up before you add any wet filling.
