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Need to blind bake your pastry but not a clue what that means or how to do it? You’ve come to the right place! Rather than trying to blindly (see what I did there!?) figure it out for yourself, here’s my easy guide on how to blind bake pastry.
Blind Baking – A Quick Overview
Essentially blind baking is not as technical as it sounds. It’s simply the act of baking a pie crust or pastry case before adding the filling.
Blind baking – or par-baking – pastry is usually done in bakes like quiches, so you don’t get a soggy bottom.
It also means you don’t overcook the filling waiting for the pie crust to be done.
Table of Contents
What is blind baking?
When you make a bake with a very wet filling, like a gluten free quiche, blind baking is often done before adding the filling to the pie crust.
Blind baking shortcrust pastry also ensures you don’t overcook the filling while trying to ensure the pastry is cooked through.
While it may sound very technical, blind baking is simply cooking the pastry case a little before adding the filling.
This means you won’t get any soggy bottoms – which let’s face it, nobody wants to see.
Not all recipes use blind baking but I typically use it for recipes like my Gluten Free Quiche Lorraine or my Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie, which have very wet fillings.
What Equipment Do I Need?
To blind bake pastry you only need a few simple pieces of kitchen equipment:
Quiche Dish – or pie dish of choice. Typically for a quiche I use half a batch of my gluten free pastry recipe for a 25cm pie dish.
Baking Beans – otherwise called baking weights. If you don’t have these (or don’t want to buy any) you can use dried lentils or uncooked rice instead.
Baking Paper – this is to lay the baking beans on top of, otherwise you’ll be picking them off your pie crust!
How to blind bake pastry at-a-glance
Need a quick refresher or in a hurry? Here’s my at-a-glance-guide on how to blind bake your pastry for a pie crust or quiche.
There’s a more detailed version with step-by-step pictures below. But in short, to blind bake your gluten free pastry:
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 180C Fan / Gas Mark 4.
- Roll your pastry out to the size of your tin and transfer it to your pie tin. Trim the crust and add any fancy crimping you desire.
- Prick the bottom with a fork (this stops air bubbles).
- Cover your pastry with a sheet of baking paper.
- Pour Baking Beans (or dried lentils / uncooked rice) onto the paper and use your hands to make sure they evenly cover the bottom of the pie crust.
- Bake for 10 minutes, remove the baking weights and paper, then bake for another 10-15 minutes until golden.
- Fill and continue making your pie, quiche, or whatever yummy treat you’re baking!
A more detailed guide to blind baking pastry
If you’re making something like a gluten free quiche recipe, you’ll need to blind bake the pastry first. This is simple – let me show you how!
When you’re ready, preheat the oven at 180’C / Fan 160’C / Gas Mark 4 and get your quiche dish ready to rock and roll!
Once you’ve rolled out your gluten free pastry (which should be nicely chilled) carefully use the rolling pin to lift the pastry into your pie dish.
Don’t worry about trimming any overhang yet, we’ll do this in a moment.
Use your fingers to press the sides of the pie into the ridges of the dish. If you accidentally tear or break the pastry don’t worry – we can fix this in a minute!
Break off a small piece of the overhanging dough and roll it into a ball. Then use this to press the pastry in further (it will stop your finger nails going through the pastry!).
Gently push the overhanging pastry back over the pie dish so you have a couple of millimetres which are slightly thicker at the top of the pie crust.
This will help to minimise any shrinking when the gluten free pie crust cooks. If it shrinks too much you may find your filling will spill out.
Roll the rolling pin over the top of the dish and then remove any excess pastry. If you have any rips or tears, you can patch these up using some of the pastry offcuts.
I like to wet take a small piece of pastry, dab some cold water onto one side then use this to ‘stick’ the pastry over the tear/hole – kind of like a pastry plaster!
Once you’re ready to bake, prick the bottom all over with a fork or a sharp knife. This minimises any air bubbles forming when the pastry cooks.
Place a piece of baking paper over the top of the pastry and fill with baking beans. If you don’t have baking beans you can use dried lentils or uncooked rice instead.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. After this time, carefully remove the baking paper and beans, then bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden.
Remove the cooked pastry case from the oven, and then continue to fill it as per your chosen recipe. This will ensure there are no soggy bottoms in sight!
Recipes that use blind baking
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some FAQs about how to blind bake pastry. If you can’t find the answer to your question here or in the post above, please comment and I’ll try answer!
For something like a quiche recipe we only want to par-cook the gluten free pastry, so I recommend baking for 10 minutes with the weights, then 10-15 minutes with the weights removed. If you want the pastry case to be completely cooked, you’ll need to bake it for around 20 minutes until it’s evenly golden brown.
If you’re making something with a very wet filling like a quiche or pumpkin pie then yes, I recommend blind baking. However, if the filling is less wet, like my chicken and ham pie or jam tarts, you don’t need to blind bake the pastry case.
Yes! My gluten free pastry recipe acts in the same was as ‘normal’ pastry, which is why many of recipes call for blind baking. This guide is written using gluten free shortcrust pastry, but it’s the same technique for ‘normal’ pastry too.
Baking beans are actually small weights, usually made from ceramic. Otherwise known as baking weights, they are used to weight down the pastry when blind baking so it doesn’t bubble or rise up. If you don’t have any you can use any dried beans, lentils or uncooked rice instead. Some people even use clean coins!
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How To Blind Bake Pastry
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180’C / Fan 160’C / Gas Mark 4 and remove your gluten free pastry from the fridge. Knead it until it’s pliable then roll out to your chosen thickness.
- Once you’ve rolled out your gluten free pastry, carefully use the rolling pin to lift the pastry into your pie dish. Don’t worry about trimming any overhang yet.
- Use your fingers to press the sides of the pie into the ridges of the dish. Break off a small piece of the overhanging dough and roll it into a ball. Then use this to press the pastry in further (it will stop your finger nails going through the pastry!).
- Gently push the overhanging pastry back over the pie dish so you have a couple of millimetres which are slightly thicker at the top of the pie crust, to help minimise any shrinking when the pie crust cooks.
- Roll the rolling pin over the top of the dish to cut off any overhand, and then remove any excess pastry. Prick the bottom all over with a fork or a sharp knife. This will stop any big bubbles forming.
- Place a piece of baking paper over the top of the pastry and fill with baking beans (or dried rice/lentils if using).
- Bake in the preheated oven at for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the baking paper and beans, then bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden.
- Remove the cooked pastry case from the oven, and then continue to fill it as per your chosen recipe. This will ensure there are no soggy bottoms in sight!
If you found this helpful, please leave a comment and review and let me know! xx