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I am making a quiche. The recipe tells me to "blind bake" the crust at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. What is "blind baking"? Is it anything more complicated than baking something partially?

To avoid making this a general reference question: why is it necessary to blind bake things? And, why is it called "blind" baking?

hairboat
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    For anyone who's interested, [here's the best explanation](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/39015/why-is-it-called-blind-baking/39029#39029) we could come up with on English.se for the reason why it's *called* "blind baking", but please if anyone knows better, come and tell us! – FumbleFingers Aug 26 '11 at 19:25
  • Some new etymological leads [here](http://english.stackexchange.com/a/68808/5822). – Callithumpian May 24 '12 at 13:49
  • Some research I did for this question at EL&U pointed to a possible mention in the 1943 edition of _The Joy of Cooking_. Anyone here have a copy? – Callithumpian May 25 '12 at 15:29

1 Answers1

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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). It can also be done to help 'set' a crust against a filling that will make it rather soggy.

Oftentimes you will want something neutral in the shell to keep it from becoming a big bubbly, puffed up crust. This may be in the form of formal 'pie weights' or just a piece of parchment paper and some dry beans will suffice.

I have no idea why it's called blind baking, but the English.SE site is notoriously good at word origins.

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rfusca
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    I've seen suggestions that you fill the crust with dried peas to stop the sides from collapsing. I've never tried it though. – johnny Aug 22 '11 at 05:26
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    The peas/beans are more to stop the centre puffing up than the sides collapsing since the sides usually stick to the pie dish ok. I always put a big pile of beans in the centre of my pastry. – Rincewind42 Aug 22 '11 at 06:16
  • I did notice that the bottoms of my crusts became quite puffy after 7 minutes at 375, but they settled right down when I added the eggy filling. Thanks for this great answer! – hairboat Aug 22 '11 at 14:43
  • @Abby - A 7 minutes, the puff up may not be a problem, but if it fully cooks like that you'll be up a creek. You can always poke it lightly with a fork to help as well. I'm sure the quiche turned out great! – rfusca Aug 22 '11 at 19:00
  • @johnny: You have to watch out. You don't want to bake peas or beans INTO your crust, or you'll be sitting there for an hour prying them out with a knife. – Satanicpuppy Aug 22 '11 at 21:42
  • @Rincewind42, I've always thought that poking with a fork took care of the puffing up. @ SatanicPuppy, ok, as I said, I've never tried. Are you speaking from experience? ;) – johnny Aug 23 '11 at 05:52
  • @johnny - poking with a fork is **a** method of taking care of the puffing up. I find it less effective than just some weight on top. – rfusca Aug 23 '11 at 06:06
  • If anyone wants to weigh in, I asked the etymology question on [English](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/39015/why-is-it-called-blind-baking) just now. – hairboat Aug 23 '11 at 15:21
  • @johnny - First pie I did I poked with a fork but since the pastry was short, it expanded and blocked the wholes, puffing up horibly. Second pie I made bigger cuts in the bottom but that meant the filling could run out. Third pie I did, I saw the cookbook mention beans so I did that. The beans got glued into the pastry and there weren't enough so it still puffed up. Fourth pie I learned to put parchment paper or similar to stop the beans sticking. – Rincewind42 Aug 24 '11 at 12:50
  • @Rincewind42, I just go nuts with a fork. My children gladly helps... – johnny Aug 24 '11 at 13:25
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    Setting a second buttered pie dish on the crust does the trick and lifts out nicely. –  Aug 30 '13 at 19:45