To fully blind bake pie crust, bake it at 425°F until the crust begins to turn golden, 17 to 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and pie weights, and continue to bake until the crust is evenly browned and looks crisp, which should take another 5 to 10 minutes.
Prick the base of the pastry case all over with a fork. 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.
2 Bake for 15–20 minutes in the upper third of the oven until the sides are set. To check, remove from the oven and carefully pull the cartouche away from the pastry. If the pastry is holding up and looking less translucent and grey, remove the beans and gently tweak out the cartouche.
It's best to follow the pie crust recipe or package directions, but most pie crusts can be blind baked at a standard pie temperature of about 400 to 425 degrees.
1. While the tart shell is chilling, place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) for conventional or 325°F (160°C) for convection. 2. Blind-bake the tart shell by lining it with parchment paper or a large coffee filter so the surface of the dough is completely covered.
Chill for 30 mins. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Fill the pastry case with a round of baking paper and add baking beans (see tip) to weigh it down. Bake for 15 mins, then carefully remove the paper and beans and cook the pastry for 5 mins more (this is called baking blind).
High heat encourages the pie dough to shrink and puff, reducing its capacity for filling, distorting the decorative border, and creating air pockets all over the bottom and sides of the crust. I vastly prefer blind-baking for an hour at 350°F (180°C), with pie weights in place the entire time.
Instead of weights, try using a second pie plate — one that's either the same size as or slightly smaller than the crust — and nestle it inside the pastry. It keeps the crust in place, picture-perfect, and ready for filling.
To fully blind bake pie crust, bake it at 425°F until the crust begins to turn golden, 17 to 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and pie weights, and continue to bake until the crust is evenly browned and looks crisp, which should take another 5 to 10 minutes.
Blind-Baking Method: Parchment Paper and Pie Weights
Just like the bean and rice methods, you chill the pie shell, line it with parchment, fill with the weights, and bake the crust for 15 minutes before removing the weights and finishing the bake.
If you're new to blind baking, the simplest homemade solution is rice – rice acts as a great pastry weight and does not burn. It's also easy to tip out or save to use again.
When blind baking, line the pastry with baking paper and fill to the brim with baking beans/uncooked rice, which will support the sides of the pastry and help prevent shrinkage. Start shortcrust off at 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5 to quickly set the pastry. If the oven temperature is too low, the pastry will shrink.
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.
The simple answer is, typically, no. My homemade recipe noted above has more than enough fat in it to keep it from sticking. If you are using a storebought pie crust, I would recommend giving your pan a light spritz of cooking spray or brush with a little softened butter- don't do it on either.
Blind baking is used for making tart shells as well as pies. When blind baking, the pie crust is lined with parchment paper and then filled with uncooked beans or rice, and then baked. This prevents the crust from puffing up while it bakes. After baking, the beans or rice are removed and the pie crust is filled.
Chill
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. You can wrap the piecrust in plastic wrap and freeze overnight. (Be sure to use a metal or aluminum pie pan if you freeze the piecrust.) This step is optional, but it does help with the flakiest pie crust possible.
To maintain its shape during baking, pastry needs liquid to activate the flour's gluten. For flaky, tender texture, it also requires fat. The balance of those two ingredients is critical. Too much fat and the crust loses its structure and shrinks; too much liquid, it's hard and leathery.
Note: You can blind bake a crust up to three days ahead of time. Simply allow the crust to cool and then wrap with plastic wrap to keep it fresh. Store on your counter until you are ready to fill and serve.
Left to their own devices, pie crusts will bubble, puff, crater, and become misshapen while blind baking in the oven. While bakers can use dried beans, raw rice, pennies, and granulated sugar as pie weights, we like to use the best product designed specifically for the job: pie weights.
Learning how to blind-bake is an essential skill for any budding pastry chef. It enables you to use liquid tart fillings without the pastry springing a leak and ensures that your pastry is evenly cooked, providing that wonderfully golden finish from base to rim.
Brush Your Pie in Egg Wash
Once you've pre-baked your pie, brush the bottom and sides of the crust with egg wash, then reheat at 400° for 4 minutes to set the glaze. This creates a seal between the crust and the filling so that your crust stays crispy and golden once the filling is added.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick the bottom of pastry all over with a fork. Line the pastry with parchment paper; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until pastry begins to color around the edges, about 30 minutes.
Blind bake the pie crust: Preheat oven to 375°F. Line the crust with aluminum foil with enough foil to completely cover the sides, and then fill with a layer of pie weights (or dried beans, salt, sugar, etc...) to fill about 2/3 up the crust sides.
If you are pre-baking a store-bought frozen packaged crust, I recommend following the directions on the package for how to pre-bake that particular crust. Most instructions will have you defrost the crust, prick the bottom of the crust all over with the tines of a fork, and bake at 375°F to 450°F for 10 to 12 minutes.