Do You Blind Bake Your Pie Crusts?

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I grew up on an old apple orchard so depending on the season we baked a lot of pies in our family. Never ever did we blind bake the crust. I've always put the filling on top of a raw crust and baked it all together and I've never had any issues with it.

Fast forward to the past few years when I started to study baking more seriously, and everywhere I look people are warning about the dangers of soggy bottom and suggesting that crusts are blind baked before being filled. I had never noticed a soggy bottom before on my pies but now I'm getting a bit paranoid...maybe I'm just used to a wet, under-baked crust and I just never noticed that the texture was off.

I decided to experiment and while my pastry usually turns out flaky and tender, after blind baking the bottom crust was tough and chewy and awful. I don't really know what to do and I'm not sure if my technique is going wrong somewhere.

How do you bake your pie crusts? Do you ever have issues with an under-baked or tough pastry?
 
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I did that a lot when starting out, now I don't see the need to. I just poured my mix on the ''raw'' crust and bake it. I noticed that when I baked the crust before it ended up overcooking a bit when I baked it with the mix on top for the second time. Not good at all! I needed to be super careful so that wouldn't happen. It's funny, a lot people recommend you to do that, but in reality is more practical to just not do it.

When I make a no bake pie I don't blink bake my crust either... I just place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, no more no less... works wonderfully.
 
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Blind baking? Now what is that? I am seeing how I cannot contribute here other than to say you folks have sent me to Google. Trellum, should I Google it or will you educate me as you usually do? I'll still have a peep. I hope one day to do some sort of crust from scratch. That would be a great achievement for me.
 
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Blind baking? Now what is that? I am seeing how I cannot contribute here other than to say you folks have sent me to Google. Trellum, should I Google it or will you educate me as you usually do? I'll still have a peep. I hope one day to do some sort of crust from scratch. That would be a great achievement for me.

Surely :) Well, when you blind bake a pie crust that basically means that once you set the crust on the pie dish you just bake it for 10 or 15 minutes. They do that to make sure the filling of the pie mix not end up mixing with the crust or something like that. But if you press your crust there is no problem! I've already baked a pie with a raw crust. Actually is much better this way... the edges no longer over cook like they did when I blind baked a pie crust.

No need to blind bake a crust either when preparing a no bake pie either. You can simply place the pie dish with the crust on it in the freezer for 10 minutes and it's good to go.
 
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I've never blind baked either, and for much the same reason as you. I've never had an issue baking on the "raw" crust even with fillings on top of it - so I've just never really seen the need. I guess it's a case of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it!"
 
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Surely :) Well, when you blind bake a pie crust that basically means that once you set the crust on the pie dish you just bake it for 10 or 15 minutes. They do that to make sure the filling of the pie mix not end up mixing with the crust or something like that. But if you press your crust there is no problem! I've already baked a pie with a raw crust. Actually is much better this way... the edges no longer over cook like they did when I blind baked a pie crust.

No need to blind bake a crust either when preparing a no bake pie either. You can simply place the pie dish with the crust on it in the freezer for 10 minutes and it's good to go.

All completely foreign to me but I knew you would educate me. At some point I will probably get around to doing something like this. When I think pie and crust I am thinking something completely different, like my macaroni pie with a nice cheese and bread crumb crust.
 
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I generally only pre-bake my pie crust when the filling will be uncooked. If a recipe calls for pre-baking (or blind baking) the crust, it's usually only for around 10 minutes, and I don't have an issue with that, but otherwise, I don't bother, since the pan will heat up, and cook the bottom of the crust as well as the rest of it.
 
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@Winterybella Well, the most popular crust for cheese pies is the one made with crumbled cookies, you can use crumbled vanilla wafers (not the ones filled with the yellow stuff, of course) or simply use digestive biscuits, like this:

digestive%20biscuits.jpg


Any brand works, really. I prefer to make my crusts using this kind of cookies. Just place them in the blender until they're dust, melt butter, mix and that's it. I sometimes add a dash of salt (tiny bit) and 2 spoons sugar and a bit cinnamon, depending on the cookie brand.

For apple or pecan pies.. well, those pies require a flour based crust :)

5160095153_0b24a04682.jpg
 
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I've never blind baked but I mostly make savory pies. Idk if maybe that's a factor in never having soggy bottoms. I guess I feel I would have overbaked the crust edges if I were to prebake the crust. And I have no patience to cover them with aluminum foil to avoid that. LOL
 
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I did that a lot when starting out, now I don't see the need to. I just poured my mix on the ''raw'' crust and bake it. I noticed that when I baked the crust before it ended up overcooking a bit when I baked it with the mix on top for the second time. Not good at all! I needed to be super careful so that wouldn't happen. It's funny, a lot people recommend you to do that, but in reality is more practical to just not do it.

It seems like this is the general consensus on this thread...I'm glad I'm not the only one who puts filling into a raw crust! I noticed the same thing with the pastry being over cooked when I pre-baked it.

After reading all this, I'm definitely going to stick to my normal technique... I think I was watching too much Great British Bake Off and I let Paul Hollywood and his soggy bottoms get into my head!
 
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@cakeycakey Hehehe, I understand what you mean. Sometimes I question some of the things I've been doing in the kitchen after I watch a coking/baking TV show talking about why is so wrong I do this and that. It happens ;) I think those people on the TV tend to exaggerate too much, I haven't gotten a soggy pie crust yet ;) And I've been baking since I was 16 ;D
 
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I have only ever blind baked when the recipe specifically calls for it - and usually that is for uncooked pie fillings as noted above. I do not use pie weights, just a bag of cheap pinto beans that I use just for that purpose.
 
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I will blind bake when I cook a sweet pie or something I'm planning on removing from it's mold/tin before serving.

Otherwise, if I'm perhaps making a pie that I'll eat myself, I don't mind if there's a soggy bottom or not.
 

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