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Blind baking is done by lining a pastry shell first with parchment paper and then with some kind of weights to ensure that the bottom stays flat and the sides upright.

I have seen recipes that use rice, lentils, beans or even ceramic pie weights. And apparently all of them work. But does the choice of weights matter? Is there a difference e.g. between rice (small grains, each comparatively light) and beans (larger heavier beans)? Has anyone tested this?

Stephie
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1 Answers1

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What matters is keeping the crust from puffing and pulling away from the pie plate or tart mold. So any of those work...more or less the same, but the typical drawback is that it is difficult to keep the sides of the crust in the proper form. One of the most ingenious ways to deal with the issue is to line your pie plate with dough, place parchment on top, place an empty pie plate on top of that. Now flip the whole thing over so that the empty pie plate is on the bottom (placed on a cookie sheet). The dough is now baking upside down on top of the empty pie plate (leave everything in place, so that the dough is between plates with parchment while baking)...no shrinking or puffing. Also...a well-chilled dough helps. You can even form, then return to the fridge for a while to chill before baking.

Edit after question in the comments: The question from @Alex led me to revisit the origin of this technique, which I recently heard about on Dave Arnold's radio show, "Cooking Issues." It comes from a book called Pie Marches On by Monroe Boston Strause. It can be found online. It does not use two pans as I originally thought, rather, he blind bakes on the bottom side of one pie tin. Then flips onto a shallower pie tin for cooling and filling.

moscafj
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    ... which unfortunately will work only if you have two identical molds. Thanks for the excuse to buy double next time ;-) – Stephie Jun 14 '20 at 18:32
  • @Stephie...truedat...but worth it! – moscafj Jun 14 '20 at 18:32
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    I think it's worth emphasising that the parchment paper is essential. Otherwise the weights push too heavily on the pastry immediately below them and the baked pastry has dimples (for ceramic beads) or other unsightly indentations. – Mark Wildon Jun 14 '20 at 20:28
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    @MarkWildon...or the weights get baked into the crust...not good! – moscafj Jun 14 '20 at 20:38
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    I've used coins, beans, even a pile of nuts and bolts when I didn't have anything else, and I've never noticed a difference. I have a container of ceramic beads now and I think they're the best for the job, mostly because there's a lot of them and I can fill up the pie pan with them. – GdD Jun 14 '20 at 20:46
  • @GdD Isn’t “it doesn’t matter” an answer? – Stephie Jun 15 '20 at 11:15
  • This was a comment based on the answer pre-edit @Stephie, but I don't have time to write it up as an answer at the moment. – GdD Jun 15 '20 at 12:15
  • What's the reasoning behind putting it upside down? – Alex Jun 27 '20 at 13:32
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    @Alex your question led me to revisit the origin of this technique. I recently heard about it again on Dave Arnold's radio show, Cooking issues. It appears that I was incorrect. There is only one pan used. It is baked upside down, then turned into a shallower pan to cool and use. I will edit my answer now. – moscafj Jun 27 '20 at 14:12
  • Interesting, that makes sense. Thanks for looking into it more! – Alex Jun 27 '20 at 19:12