I will go to great lengths to avoid blind baking a pie crust. It is my least favorite task and I will settle for a soggy bottom before I spend an extra half hour pre-baking and cooling a pie crust. However, I’ve accepted that there are times when it is necessary and it can be done successfully with a little effort. Here are the steps to blind bake a crust:
- Roll and plate the pie crust and get it REALLY COLD before baking. You can put it in the refrigerator for a good 30 minutes or even better, put it in the freezer. This is the key to avoiding a shrinking pie.
- Pre-heat oven to 400.
- Pierce the bottom and sides of the pie crust multiple times with a fork (sometimes I’m lazy and I skip this step).
- Line pie crust with foil and fill shell with pie weights or dry beans/rice. Be sure to fill all the way to the top so that the sides are weighted down as well. This will help prevent shrinking.
- Bake covered pie shell for 20 minutes, then gently remove foil. Pierce any puffed crust with a fork to let the air out.
- Partially baked crust (this is for pies that will need to go back in the oven like pumpkin, etc.) – return to oven uncovered for another 8 minutes until the bottom is JUST beginning to brown. Remove and let cool.
- Fully baked crust (this is for pies that will not be baked like chocolate pudding, banana cream, etc.) – return to oven uncovered for 10 – 12 minutes until fully golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.
Things that might go wrong:
- The pie crust shrinks away from the sides. If this happens and you are doing a partially baked crust, press the crust back up the sides when you initially remove it from the oven. Put the foil back on with the weights and return it to the oven as planned. Remove foil for the last few minutes and keep watch. If it’s really misbehaving, bail on putting it back in the oven. Some pre-baking is better than nothing. If you are doing a fully baked crust, do the same thing, put the foil back on with the weights and return it to the oven to bake. Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes.
- The edges start to burn. If this happens, cover with a ring of foil or pie shield if you have one. If you are doing a partial crust and putting a pie back into the oven, this can be a problem because you have another 35-40 minutes of baking ahead of you. Definitely be prepared to cover the edges of the filled pie shell from the start.
- You decide you hate blind baking crust. This is a completely normal reaction and I encourage you to avoid blind baking as much as you can in the future.