Blind baking
Baking a pastry case before its filling, weighted so the base does not lift and the sides do not slump.
A pastry case is lined and filled with weights, then baked before the filling goes in.
Two separate problems make this necessary. A wet filling added to raw pastry keeps the base below the temperature at which it can dry and set, producing the soggy base that is the most common tart fault. And unweighted pastry lifts as steam forms beneath it and slumps down the sides as the fat melts.
The weights address the second problem, not the first. Removing them for a final uncovered period addresses the first, which is why the two-stage version exists and why skipping the second stage leaves a pale, damp base under a cooked-looking rim.
What it is for
To set and dry a pastry case before a wet filling is added, while preventing the base from lifting and the sides from slumping.
RecordedPaula Figoni, John Wiley & Sons
How to tell it has worked
- The sides hold their height and colour when the weights come out.
- The base looks dry and matt rather than translucent or damp after the uncovered stage.
- No raw, greyish patches remain in the centre.
What it changes
| Property | Effect | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Increases | A set case supports a filling instead of absorbing it. |
| Moisture | Decreases | Driving moisture off before filling is what prevents a soggy base. |
Without beans, and what the beans are actually for
Baking beans hold the base flat and stop it puffing. Steam forms between the pastry and the tin, and with nothing weighing it down the base lifts into a dome and the case loses its capacity.
Anything of similar weight that tolerates oven heat does the same job: rice, dried pulses, granulated sugar, or a smaller tin nested inside. Sugar is the interesting option because it can be used afterwards, having been gently toasted. What does not work is nothing at all, and what works poorly is too little — a thin layer weighs too little to resist the steam.
Docking — pricking the base with a fork — is a partial substitute that vents the steam instead of resisting it. It works for firm, low-moisture pastries and it is a bad idea under a wet filling, because the holes are exactly where the filling will leak.
What beans do NOT prevent is the sides shrinking down the tin. That is gluten tension contracting, and only resting the lined case before baking addresses it.
Related
Used in
A wet filling holds a raw base below the temperature at which it could dry and set, so the case has to be baked first.
The answer to the base problem, and the reason it exists.
More necessary here than in a tart, because the lid traps steam.
The science behind it
A base under a wet filling never gets hot enough or dry enough to set, which is the mechanism the whole technique exists to defeat.
Products that depend on this
A wet filling in an unbaked case produces the soggy base BakeHQ models as a fault. The case has to be set before the filling goes in.
The technique that resolves the conflict at the centre of the product: it gives the pastry its dry high-heat phase before the wet filling arrives.