What are Pie Weights? And When Should I Use Them? | KitchenAid (2024)

FAQs

What are Pie Weights? And When Should I Use Them? | KitchenAid? ›

Pie weights are used in blind baking

Don't skip this step, or your pie weights might stick to the dough. Use a square or circle of parchment paper that's large enough to allow for plenty of overhang — you'll need to be able to easily grab the sides without spilling the hot weights everywhere. Add the pie weights to the crust, filling the shell completely.

They will work just as well and can be reused just like pie weights. The only caveat: If you use an edible item like dried beans as pie weights, you'll no longer be able to eat them. But you'll be happy to have an affordable alternative on hand the next time you go to bake.

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.

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. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven, and lift out the paper and weights.

If you blind bake without pie weights, you might find that your pie crust forms air pockets that bubble up or that it shrinks as it bakes. Pie weights help to weigh down the dough, so that it holds its shape and stays nestled against the plate or pan.

As a rule of thumb, a 9-inch pie will need around 2lb of weights.

Best substitutes for pie weights:

I use a mix of heirloom beans that includes dried black beans, kidney beans and pinto beans. Uncooked Rice – Most people have rice grains on hand and they are a great option for pie weights. Any variety of rice or grain would work here.

If you use sugar as a pie weight, you'll be left with about 4 cups of lightly caramelized sugar granules which you can (and should!) easily reuse. Let the sugar cool to room temperature, run it through a food processor to break up any lumps, then store it in a cool, dry place like any other granulated sugar.

Remove the pie weights.

Grasp the corners of the parchment (or foil), and lift the weights out of the pie. Transfer them to a bowl or plate to cool.

Can I use foil for pie weights? ›

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.

You've got lots of options and they all work really well; dried beans, uncooked rice, popcorn kernels, steel balls, sugar, glass marbles, metal chain, or smaller pie pan. As a pro alternative, use perforated baking equipment (eg. tart ring, baking mat) that let the air circulate without the need of using pie weights.

Taking this step ensures you'll never have to deal with post-bake raw pie dough or an overcooked filling. Not all pie recipes require it, though: Blind baking serves a purpose when the pie filling requires a shorter bake time than the crust or when the filling is cold-set, meaning it isn't baked at all.

Can You Reuse Rice after Blind Baking? While rice should not be cooked or eaten after blind baking, it can be continually used as an alternative to pie weights. If you are using rice to weigh down your pie crust while blind baking, make sure to label and store it with your other baking supplies for your next creation.

The high conductivity of aluminum foil helped to efficiently transmit the oven's heat to the shell as it baked, but it also trapped steam on its underside and resulted in slightly spotty browning. Parchment paper fared best; its more permeable structure allowed the shell to breathe—and then brown—as it baked.

After cooling, the dried beans can be reused again and again as pie weights. Results: This method might be the standard, but we can't say that it's the best. Beans vary widely in size and shape, which determines how well they fill the parchment liner and weigh down the crust.

Line the crust with foil, parchment, or a paper coffee filter. 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.

Non-stick spray, butter, or shortening in the pie dish, on the other hand, will prevent sticking — but since most pie and tart crusts are pretty heavy on the butter already, you shouldn't need a lot of, if any, grease to get the job done.

Pie weights are little weights used to fill the inside of the blind baked pie crust, to help stop the middle puffing up in the oven. You line the chilled pie crust with crumpled parchment paper, then fill the crust up to the edges of the crimps using pie weights.