John Myers
The importance of blind baking is not immediately apparent to kitchen newcomers. The strange-sounding term hides an effective method to pre-bake dough bases nice and crispy. We’ll tell you exactly what it’s all about, how it works – and what to look out for.
Keeping the dough in shape: blind baking
For filled or topped baked goods such as tarts, quiches, pies, and fruit tarts, the shortcrust pastry base is ideally pre-baked. That way it doesn’t get soggy and gets nice and crispy. When pre-baked, however, the dough tends to bubble in the middle – and loses its shape at the edge. Blind baking prevents this in a simple way: To do this, layer uncooked pulses on the dough to stabilize and weigh it down. How you blind bake is entirely up to you. Dried peas, chickpeas, beans, and lentils are suitable, for example. There are also special blind baking balls made of ceramic and blind baking chains made of stainless steel, but these are not absolutely necessary. If you want to blind bake without legumes, rice and cherry stones are ideal.
Step by step: This is how blind baking works
To blind-bake delicacies like our asparagus quiche or a spicy leek cake, first line the baking tin with the shortcrust pastry, pierce it with a fork and place baking paper on top. You can also blind bake with aluminum foil. The pulses then come on top of the intermediate layer. The procedure is particularly easy if you roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper and lift it into the tin. This way nothing sticks and you can place the blind filling directly on the top layer of paper. Depending on the recipe, the dough should blind bake for about 10 to 20 minutes. Pay attention to the edge: if it has risen nicely and is not too brown, the baking time is optimal. You can’t see the floor – hence the name “blind baking”. However, the dough should not be left in the oven for too long, so that the pastry does not burn. After pre-baking, remove the legumes, replace them with your desired filling, and finish baking the treat. If a cold topping such as cream is to be used, the dough is baked empty and filled after cooling.
