How to blind bake (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you blind bake without weights? ›

If you don't have pie weights, you could use something similar like pennies, dry beans, dry rice, or even sugar. I don't recommend blind baking your crust without anything to weigh it down though, because it will likely lose its shape, bubble, and shrink.

Fill it about two-thirds full with dried beans, uncooked rice (or other uncooked grain berries), pie weights, or granulated sugar. Bake the crust in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes, set on a baking stone or steel if you have one.

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 or the stated temperature for the recipe you are using. Line the tart tin with baking parchment and fill with ceramic baking beans or dried pulses.

Tip 6: Forget Weights, Use Sugar

It's also more granular than any other option. That lets sugar settle into every nook and cranny of the aluminum-lined crust, distributing its considerable weight across the bottom and sides of the pan, and butting up against the taller edges, too.

Dried beans weigh down your pie crust to prevent misshaping during blind baking like traditional pie weights. Dried rice - Another popular pantry ingredient, dried rice is a great aluminum pie weights substitute as the small grains easily fit into smaller pie crusts or tart shell molds.

Pie Weight Substitutes

Beans are a popular choice because their size and shape mimic that of store-bought ceramic beads. You won't be able to cook with the beans after you've baked them, so take that into consideration before pouring the last of your beans into your pie shell.

As a general rule, you do need to blind bake when cooking a dish with wet fillings. For example, if you're making a quiche or frangipane, blind baking the crust first will help ensure the pastry case stays buttery and retains its crunch.

A pie weights substitute is basically just something that is used in place of commercial pie weights to keep pie dough from shrinking or bubbling when it's being blind baked. Some of the most common substitutes are dried beans, uncooked rice, steel balls, and popcorn kernels.

Blind Bake Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the chilled pie dough with aluminum foil and use granulated sugar to fill the whole pie plate. Bake for 40 minutes; remove the foil and sugar and set the crust aside while you make the filling.

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.

Should you poke holes in the bottom of pie crust? ›

With docking, the holes allow steam to escape, so the crust should stay flat against the baking dish when it isn't held down by pie weights or a filling. Otherwise the crust can puff up, not only impacting appearance but also leaving you with less space for whatever filling you have planned.

An egg wash is not necessary when blind baking, though if you want to add some shine to the edges of the pie, you can brush the crust with egg wash after removing the pie weights and before returning the pie to the oven to finish baking.

Parchment paper fared best; its more permeable structure allowed the shell to breathe—and then brown—as it baked. It's our go-to choice for blind baking, with foil as a backup.

3. Return the pastry to a lower shelf of the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the base of the pastry looks dry and feels sandy to touch, but has not taken on any colour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before using.

It's not recommended to blind bake without any weight, because the pastry will puff up and it won't cook evenly if there's nothing holding it down. But if you don't have traditional baking beads, you can use dry rice, pasta, beans or even sugar! Anything that's heavy enough to hold down a piece of baking paper.

What Can You Use Instead of Pie Weights? Instead of pie weights, you can use dried beans or rice, granulated sugar, popcorn kernels or steel ball bearings. If you are not using pie weights, the idea is to mimic what the pie weight does and to make sure that the alternative is oven-safe.

As a general rule, you do need to blind bake when cooking a dish with wet fillings.

Line the chilled crust in the pan with parchment or foil. Fill the crust with pie weights completely flush to the top edge of the crust to prevent shrinking or slumping. Place on a rimmed, parchment-lined baking sheet. This will help catch any butter that might bubble over.