Blind baking a pie crust for a fruit tart or a quiche can be frustrating. If not done right, the dough shrinks up as it bakes, leaving an unattractive, too-small container for the filling. But what is the right way to do it? Freezing, crimping, casting voodoo magic? Here are the tricks that work for us every time:
1. All the normal rules for pie crust apply. By that we mean making sure your ingredients are cold, not cutting the fat into the flour too finely, letting the dough rest for at least an hour after it is made, and not handling the dough too much as it is rolled out.
2. Fold the edges of your dough under. The thicker your dough is around the lip of the pie plate, the less likely it is to shrink and pull down the sides. For maximum thickness, after fitting the dough into the plate, cut off the excess, leaving an overhang of about ¾ inch (2 cm). Fold this under, using the scraps to patch any thin areas, and crimp. This has the added benefit of making the edges of the pie look very smooth and neat.
3. Freeze the dough in its pie plate before baking. Frozen dough is less likely to shrink and slump. We typically freeze our dough overnight, but even an hour or two in the freezer will help.
4. Line the dough with a piece of parchment paper and fill with pie weights before baking. We've tried buttered foil in place of parchment, but sometimes have problems with it sticking. Parchment paper never sticks and the weights keep the crust from bubbling up as it bakes. (Dried beans or uncooked rice can also be used as pie weights.)
Do you have any tips or tricks for foolproof blind baking?
More Pie Crust Tips:
• Blind Baking: What It Is and How To Do It
• Recipe: Basic Pie Crust
• How To Make a Pie Crust from Scratch
• Help Me Make More Beautiful Pie Crusts
• Finishing Touches: How to Get a Perfect Golden Pie Crust
(Images: Anjali Prasertong)
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beauty! the problem i have with pie crusts is that they turn out so dense... something's not right about that. maybe it's because i cut the fat into the flour too finely.
@likethunder: try weighing your flour- you might be adding more than your recipe calls for if it is compacting.
I usually use a handheld pie knife (instead of a food processor) to make my dough. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes of cutting the fat in. If it is particularly humid, I ditch the pie knife after a couple minutes and cut the fat in with two butter knifes. Sometimes the pie knife starts to smoosh everything too much.
Not over-working the dough and aaking sure the weights are pushed up against the sides and all the way to the top really helps. The whole shell doesn't even have to be filled to the top with weights, it can be concave, as long as the sides have that pressure on them.
I coarsely grate in frozen butter, and it works perfectly every time - thanks Michael Smith
My solution for a non shrinking pastry is not to use water in the dough. Obviously the water evaporates and causes the pastry to shrink. Instead I use eggs for a non shrinking and more delicious crust.
egg in pie crust? i thought that was for tarts...but your comment got me to thinking about vodka in pie crust.
i used to use vodka in my crust recipe instead of water because i heard it makes for a more tender product. i really didn't notice a difference but would this prevent shrinkage??
Due to it's alcohol content vodka would evaporate even faster than water, so I don't think you would avoid that contribution to the shrinkage, (if that truly is what's causing the shrinkage, which I'm not so sure about).