How to Blind Bake

Blind baking is a term for pre-baking a crust to fill later. Bake the crust before you fill it with things like fruit or cream fillings to keep the crust from getting soggy. You can blind bake crusts for pies or tarts.

Instructions

1. Make your favorite pie crust recipe and roll out the dough. Place it into a pie plate and flute the edges.

2. Prevent your crust from puffing up in the middle by poking holes in it. Use a fork to perforate the bottom of the crust before you bake it.

3. Chill the crust for 30 minutes, then cover the inside of the uncooked crust with a coffee filter or aluminum foil. Add rice or beans to the filter or foil to weigh down the crust.

4. Bake your pie crust at 350 degrees F until the crust begins to turn brown. Remove the weight and the foil or coffee filter insert.

5. Cover the edges of the crust to prevent them from burning and put the crust back into the oven. Continue to bake the crust until it turns a uniform golden brown.

Tips & Warnings

• You can buy weights made specifically for weighing down your crust. They're available in metal or ceramic.

• You can buy aluminum pie shields to protect the crust from burning, or you can place aluminum foil around the edges of the crust.

Resources

• Go to Chef's Resource for baking weights and other baking tools.
• Find pie shields at the Chowhound.