Hi,
I am still a newbie at baking and when I blind-bake some tart pastry and take them out, the bases are still "sweaty"
Is this normal or should I blind-bake them for longer ?
At this stage if I put them back into the oven (without the baking beans) to dry them off, the bases sometimes rise
What am I doing wrong.
Should I continue blind-baking with baking beans on or off ? Should I reduce the oven temperature ?
Hello Sai,
The common method of high heat for 20 mins or so does not work. The dough is not baked at all with this method. Once the filling is added, the raw dough never bakes up.
The crust should actually be baked at a lower temperature and baked until it’s nearly baked. Trust me, twiced bakes will not overly brown the crust.
The best way to blind bake:
1. Please the piecrust in the pie plate then put it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to freeze
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)
3. Crumple a lathe piece of aluminum foil into a ball; open it up and place it over the pie crust taking care to cover the edges
4. Fill with rice. I find beans to be too heavy
5. Blind bake the crust at 350°F ( 180°C) for about 45 minutes until it’s just about completely baked.
Stella Parks has a video showing this process. We have a few differences in our methods. She refrigerates the crust 2 hrs before baking, I freeze the pie crust. She fully blind bakes her piecrust. I prefer a just barely brown crust. She uses granulated sugar for the pie weights. I prefer rice.
https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/10/how-to-blind-bake-a-pie-crust.html
This is what a nearly fully blinded bake crust will look like after filling then baking again. The leaf border was also prebaked until very very lightly brown, then placed on the pie for the last 10 minutes of the bake.
